Swine flu death toll rises to 83 in South Africa, infection rate 4th highest in the world

by Nick van der Leek

While South Africa's official pandemic website was last updated more than a week ago, the death toll has jumped from 59 t0 83 in recent days, putting South Africa's fatality figure in the world's top 10.

The incidence rate per 100 000 is 23.41 for South Africa is the fourth highest in the world, behind Macau [46.89], Hong Kong [34.98] and Brunei [28.71] and ahead of Australia [17.0] . The world's average is currently 0.6.

Of the top five territories, three - the United States, Mexico and India - show disturbing increasing trends in transmission, both on a widespread national basis and on a regional basis.

Brazil leads the world with swine flu fatalities at 1,112, while the world total is currently at 4,755. These numbers are generally assumed to be much higher.

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Official swine flu toll in South Africa up to 47

SHOOT: Interesting how in almost every news article on swine flu you see the words 'no reason to panic'. In this article, published a few hours ago [July 8, 2009], they quote the global toll for swine flu as 59 814. Actually, they have surpassed 94 638. Almost double the figure quoted. But no need to panic, in fact, no need to even read these articles. Or read them, just make sure the stats are wrong, and the bottom line is 'don't panic' - so complacency is maintained.

Find out What to do if you get the [Swine] flu

clipped from www.iol.co.za The number of swine flu cases reported in South Africa has gone up to 47, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Wednesday. The increase, from 30 on Monday, was not a cause for panic as all those identified and tested only showed mild symptoms of the influenza A H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, deputy director Dr Lucille Blumberg said. "Most of the cases are travellers arriving in the country and those who attended the sporting event at the University of Johannesburg." Emphasising that the rise in the number of swine flu cases did not indicate any danger to the South African public, Blumberg said NICD would only look at the first 100 cases and concentrate on those with severe illnesses if there were any at that time. Figures released by the World Health Organisation at the end of June indicated that swine flu had infected 59 814 people in 113 countries across the globe and killed 263 people.