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EPIDEMICS
Swine flu death toll reaches 1,462, infections slow in south

Swine flu hits Norwegian army unit on Russian border
A Norwegian military unit tasked with monitoring the border with Russia in the high north has been hit by swine flu, landing 38 of its soldiers in the infirmary, media reports said Tuesday. "None of them is seriously ill so far, but soldiers are by nature tough people," the head of the Soer Varanger garrison, Joern Erik Berntsen, told public radio NRK. "We have received confirmation that it is an epidemic. I can't exclude that up to 50 percent (of the soldiers) may end up contaminated," he added. Stationed on the border with Russia, the unit monitors the 196-kilometre (122-mile) frontier between the two countries. According to NRK, the unit counts some 600 troops. "As I see things, we have enough resources to guard the border. If it were to become a problem, we would receive help from other army units," Berntsen said. He added that the biggest problem concerned "logistics", since soldiers suspected of carrying the A(H1N1) virus were being placed in isolation in separate barracks. Russia has officially reported some 50 cases of swine flu.
by Staff Writers
 Geneva (AFP) Aug 11, 2009
 The World Health Organisation on Tuesday said some 1,462 people had died from swine flu, and that infections were starting to decline in the southern hemisphere but picking up in several Asian countries.

"The pandemic virus appears to have peaked and is now in decline" in several countries in the southern hemisphere, a WHO spokeswoman told journalists in Geneva.

Countries where a deceleration has been recorded include Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, she said.

Several Asian countries such as Thailand, India and Vietnam are however seeing an active spread of the disease, which was declared a pandemic on June 11, added the spokeswoman.

In all, 177,457 confirmed infections have been reported to the WHO, but the figure understates the full number since indvidual cases no longer have to be tested or reported.

Data released August 5 by the UN health agency showed that 1,154 people died after being infected by the A(H1N1) virus.

By comparison, seasonal flu causes about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year, and results in about three to five million cases of severe illness, according to the WHO.

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