Canada has confirmed its first fatality from the H1N1 strain of influenza that has spread to 25 countries since emerging in Mexico last month.Alberta's chief medical officer said on Friday that the deceased was a woman was in her 30s who had not travelled to Mexico where 45 deaths have been confirmed.
Dr Andre Corriveau did not confirm how the patient had contracted the virus, but said that the woman was being treated for other "serious underlying medical conditions" at the time."This virus is spreading like any other influenza. We get 4,000 deaths from the influenza virus a year. This is the first one we can document related to swine," he said.
Most people infected with the new strain - believed to be a hybrid of swine, bird and human influenza - have either travelled to Mexico or been close to someone who has.
Dr Andre Corriveau did not confirm how the patient had contracted the virus, but said that the woman was being treated for other "serious underlying medical conditions" at the time."This virus is spreading like any other influenza. We get 4,000 deaths from the influenza virus a year. This is the first one we can document related to swine," he said.
Most people infected with the new strain - believed to be a hybrid of swine, bird and human influenza - have either travelled to Mexico or been close to someone who has.
Cases jump
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a jump in the number of confirmed cases from 896 sufferers to 1,639. It said the increase had been expected after a backlog of laboratory tests was cleared.
"We do expect to see the numbers climbing," Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the centre, said.Two people have died in the US after contracting H1N1 and officials expect that the virus will spread to all states.However, Barack Obama, the US president, was cautiously optimistic that the outbreak would not be as bad as originally feared."We are seeing that the virus may not have been as virulent as we at first feared," he said at the White House.
"But we are not out of the woods yet. We still have to take precautions."Despite Friday's developments, the World Health Organisation (WHO) kept its alert level at five, indicating that a pandemic is "imminent" rather than actually taking place."We still remain in stage five. We have no evidence of community transmission," Sylvie Briand, the acting director of the global influenza programme at WHO, said.Although the virus has been confirmed in 25 countries across the world, the vast majorities of cases have been in North America.
"But we are not out of the woods yet. We still have to take precautions."Despite Friday's developments, the World Health Organisation (WHO) kept its alert level at five, indicating that a pandemic is "imminent" rather than actually taking place."We still remain in stage five. We have no evidence of community transmission," Sylvie Briand, the acting director of the global influenza programme at WHO, said.Although the virus has been confirmed in 25 countries across the world, the vast majorities of cases have been in North America.
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