Deaths, Virus | featured news

The death toll in China's bird flu crisis stood at 10 on Friday, as Hong Kong authorities announced plans to test all poultry imported from the mainland.

Chinese authorities tried to calm spreading health concerns Wednesday after a third person was reported to have died from a new type of bird flu. The emergence in China of the H7N9 strain of avian flu — a total of nine cases have been reported since it was revealed last weekend — are troubling because the strain has not previously been found in humans.

With the nation in the grip of a severe influenza outbreak that has seen deaths reach epidemic levels, New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, making access to vaccines more easily available.

German hospitals are struggling to cope with the flood of E.coli victims, health minister Daniel Bahr said on Sunday, as scientists remain puzzled by the deadly bug that has killed 19 and infected 1,700 people across Europe.

The H1N1 swine flu virus which swept the globe last year has returned to Britain with 10 people dying in the last six weeks, health officials said Saturday.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico has confirmed two more deaths from swine flu, bringing the death toll to 66, the health secretary said Friday. Tests have confirmed 239 more cases for a total of 2,895 cases, including the deaths, said Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova. The numbers jumped because officials were able to process more backlogged cases.
The deaths represent 2.3 percent of the total cases, showing the illness is less deadly than initially feared, Cordova said.

The last death was May 10.

A woman in Arizona suffering from a lung condition has apparently become the fourth person in the nation to die with swine flu.

A Texas woman with the H1N1 flu virus died earlier this week, state health officials said, the second death outside of Mexico, where the epidemic appeared to be waning.

The swine flu outbreak has claimed its first victim in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Contro and Preventionl: A 23-month old child who died in Texas.