Swine flu round up - July 02, 2009
All Nature’s swine flu coverage is collected on our news special page. These regular updates on The Great Beyond round up the latest from other news sources around the globe.
The World Health Organisation yesterday announced it has now confirmed 77,201 cases of swine flu and 332 deaths.
Roche pledged to make it easier for developing countries to buy its Tamiflu drug at reduced prices. However, a patient in Denmark was recently discovered to have the first case of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu.
“The goods news is they just found one,” says Carolyn Bridges, from the US Centers for Disease Control (AP). Shortly after that Japan reported its first case of Tamiflu resistant H1N1 (Reuters).
AP reports that Argentina has appointed a new health minister, after the previous holder of the post resigned on Monday amid rising concern over the government’s response to H1N1 which has killed at least 26 people in the country.
Jorge Yabkowski, head of the country’s Health Professionals Association, told the wire service, “If you want to treat anyone who has symptoms today, there’s no Tamiflu in hospitals. If you ask for face masks, there are none in stores. We’re facing public health anarchy.”
Finally, US President Barack Obama met this week with experts familiar with the 1976 flu outbreak, where a mass vaccination backfired and killed several people. He produced an extremely unenlightening statement afterwards.
Image top: Getty
Image lower: WHO
