KABUL, Nov 9, 2009 (AFP) - Afghanistan's death toll from swine flu has risen to 11, the health minister said Monday, after the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the virus gaining intensity in the poverty-stricken nation.
"So far, we have 11 people who have died from this disease in the country. All have been Afghans," Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi told reporters.
He said nearly 780 people were infected with the (A)H1N1 virus, almost half of them foreigners. These include international soldiers who are based in the country to help the government fight an insurgency.
On November 1, the Afghan government closed all schools for three weeks after the country's first swine flu death, disrupting the education of nearly seven million students.
Last week the WHO said the pandemic was gaining intensity in Afghanistan as well as Mongolia, Oman, and Japan. It has spread to more than 199 countries and territories and killed more than 6,000, mostly in the Americas, the WHO said.
The WHO also highlighted signs of "increasing and active transmission" of pandemic influenza virus across Northern and Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and Belarus, as well as in eastern Russia.
The Afghan minister said his country did not have vaccinations for swine flu but the WHO was expected to provide the medicine soon.
Vaccinations against A(H1N1) influenza have started in more than 20 countries and are safe, according to the WHO, which has insisted on the value of inoculation despite the broadly mild symptoms of A(H1N1).
The minister also said the government would Tuesday launch the final phase of an anti-polio vaccination campaign. More than seven million children below the age of five would receive the vaccine, he said.
Afghanistan is one of four countries, along with Nigeria, Pakistan and India, where the crippling disease is still endemic.
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 11/09/2009 08:51:42
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