H1N1 Pandemic Travelblog
H1N1 Pandemic Travelblog
As the winter season passes in the Southern Hemisphere, along with the peak rate of H1N1 flu infections, many countries breathe a sigh of relief.
Argentina jumps into first place, with the world’s highest Pandemic body count (per quota of population). Reaching 337 mortalities, the death toll more than doubled during the last month. A further 400 Argentinean deaths are currently being investigated – most of which are expected to be virus related.
Last month Argentina’s unexpectedly high infection rate, caused havoc across the country, overwhelming hospitals which lacked enough beds and medical services to cope with demand.
Scientists contemplated that Argentina’s shocking death rate, might have been caused by a substantial genetic shift, in the H1N1strain. Such a development at this late stage, could have thrown back vaccine development, as the new strain spread across the northern hemisphere.
Thankfully test results show the virus remains virtually unchanged from its original Mexico/US strain. So the current vaccine should work fine. Also there are no signs of resistance to Tamiflu (based on 2 million doses given to public hospitals).
Chile was also surprisingly hard hit by the pandemic. The population is much smaller then Argentina’s. But official figures reported 8/6/09, record 104 deaths and 12030 infections, with 1126 cases hospitalised.
The final surprise is Australia. Despite a recent sharp rise in the number of infections, by 8/7/09, the country reported only 50 deaths and over 10,000 infections. These figures are running lower than expectations, which predicted the death rate could reach 6000 by the end.
As the winter season passes in the Southern Hemisphere, along with the peak rate of H1N1 flu infections, many countries breathe a sigh of relief.
Argentina jumps into first place, with the world’s highest Pandemic body count (per quota of population). Reaching 337 mortalities, the death toll more than doubled during the last month. A further 400 Argentinean deaths are currently being investigated – most of which are expected to be virus related.
Last month Argentina’s unexpectedly high infection rate, caused havoc across the country, overwhelming hospitals which lacked enough beds and medical services to cope with demand.
Scientists contemplated that Argentina’s shocking death rate, might have been caused by a substantial genetic shift, in the H1N1strain. Such a development at this late stage, could have thrown back vaccine development, as the new strain spread across the northern hemisphere.
Thankfully test results show the virus remains virtually unchanged from its original Mexico/US strain. So the current vaccine should work fine. Also there are no signs of resistance to Tamiflu (based on 2 million doses given to public hospitals).
Chile was also surprisingly hard hit by the pandemic. The population is much smaller then Argentina’s. But official figures reported 8/6/09, record 104 deaths and 12030 infections, with 1126 cases hospitalised.
The final surprise is Australia. Despite a recent sharp rise in the number of infections, by 8/7/09, the country reported only 50 deaths and over 10,000 infections. These figures are running lower than expectations, which predicted the death rate could reach 6000 by the end.
posted by Chris Barber at
06:04
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