More Australia Swine Flu Deaths

by WisdomMountain | June 29, 2009 at 08:24 am

578 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

More swine flu sufferers died in Australia raising the tally of fatality there to seven,more than double last week's total deaths.

The latest deaths are two Victorian men,aged 50 and 85, reports the ABC.

Victoria's acting chief health officer Dr.Rosemary Lester says the men died over the weekend.

Both men had underlying medical conditions.

The 50-year-old man had cancer.

Though most people recover from the flu,it can be a severe killer for those with chronic medical conditions like asthma,heart disease,diabetes and renal disease,says Dr.Lester.

In Australia,five Victorians have now died out of the Victoria's 1,560 confirmed flu cases,mostly in Melbourne,the world's swine capital.Victoria state cases account for nearly half of Australia's 3,519 cases.

The other two deaths are in Western Australia.

Last Friday,a young woman,aged 26, died in Perth,Western Australia's chief health officer Tarum Weeramanthri reported.

She was being treated for a serious medical condition when she caught the flu.

"We know that people with existing medical conditions are more vulnerable to the serious effects of the disease," said Weeramanthri.

In Thailand,two people have also died of the influenza A(H1N1) virus, out of 1,200 confirmed cases.

The Thai Public Health Ministry said the latest fatality was a Thai man,aged 42, who died last Saturday.

The other death,the first in Thailand,was a woman,aged 40,who died of the flu in a private hospital on June 20 but her death was informed to the Ministry on late Friday.