Swine Flu in Argentina - the beginning of a Southern Hemisphere surge?

The outbreak is expected to cost the economy up to $2.9 billion this year, deepening an economic contraction to 3 percent from 2.2 percent, according to estimates by economists at HSBC bank in Buenos Aires.

SHOOT: I expect South Africa to have the sharpest spike in infections of all Southern Hemisphere countries.

clipped from www.nytimes.com RIO DE JANEIRO — The death toll from swine flu in Argentina continued to rise as President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said she would not rule out closing major public venues where the virus could spread more quickly. Dr. Juan Manzur, the new health minister, said Friday that 44 people had died from swine flu and that the country had 2,800 confirmed flu cases. The numbers reflected a sharp increase compared with a week earlier, when there were 26 deaths and 1,587 cases. The government has been slow in confirming cases, doctors said, because it only has one state laboratory doing the testing. Several media outlets reported that two more people died Friday, identified only as young adults in the city of Rosario, increasing the unofficial total to 46. Dr. Manzur said more deaths than the 44 confirmed were being studied to see if they were caused by swine flu.