Argentina Surpasses Mexico In Swine Flu Deaths
Argentina has just won the dubious distinction of surpassing Mexico, where the “novel A/H1N1″ flu virus seems to have first reared its ugly head, as the world’s second-ranked spot for flu deaths.
So far the virus is responsible for 137 confirmed deaths, according to the latest data from Argentina’s Health Ministry. That compares with just 134 in Mexico, according to the latest data from Mexico’s Health Secretariat.
Argentina’s mortality rate appears to be the highest in the world, by far. As of Tuesday Argentina had 3,056 confirmed swine flu cases, compared with 12,645 in Mexico. Chile, which has 9,549 confirmed cases, has just 25 confirmed deaths.
In Mexico, confirmed deaths account for 1% of confirmed cases. In Chile, that figure stands at just 0.0026%. In the U.S., the country with the highest number of deaths at 211, the figure is a mere 0.0056%, with 37,246 confirmed cases, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Argentina’s mortality rate truly stands out at 4.48% of total confirmed flu cases.
Overall, the virus is still largely innocuous given that almost everyone who gets it, and is treated properly, recovers perfectly. Still, the 4.4% rate is alarmingly high even if Argentina is in the middle of its peak flu season, making it much harder to control the virus.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández on Wednesday said Argentina is likely ranked second “because it’s the one that really counts the numbers.” It wasn’t entirely clear exactly what she meant by this. “I don’t like those rankings,” Fernández said.
Popularity: 1% [?]
The H1N1 virus deaths has been making news here in Canada. It was reported that people have canceled upcoming trips to Argentina.
My brother-in-law travelled to San Juan for an Doctor’s appointment for his infant son. They weren’t allowed in the hospital because of a quarentine and they couldn’t return home because the bus company was told not to carry children, supposedly by the government. No wonder tourism to Argentina is way down.
Up North here in mi pais a rural hospital in a province inside a province….has the medical team scared to talk or say what is going on.
To add insult to the injury, if they say any numbers of dead people, they will be suspended or out of work.
Same lecture for the nurses and any one working in the hospital….
Who said that?
radio 98.1 here up north radio Mitre in Bs.AS.
I WAS JUST INSULTED FOR having my point on infection control procedures.
So…..everything is ok.
tutto bene.
tutto legal
well, i’m sitting in bed right now (in BsAs) with what i think is probably swine flu. i had a bad cough, mild fever and was lethargic for 2 days. i didn’t take Tamiflu, which I have, because it didn’t feel grave and someone else in my family may need it. i’m less worried about the mortality of swine flu in Argentina than i am about someone in my family being able to actually get Tamiflu should they really need it.
in all likelihood there are more than 100,000 cases of swine flu here and more than 1,000,000 in the US, which makes the mortality rate here very small and no greater than it is for the common flu. health officials here and in the US have confirmed as much. the actual numbers are unknown for a variety of reasons – some people don’t go to the hospital, doctors have been told to prescribe Tamiflu if someone presents with flu symptoms and the government is probably only doing lab tests to confirm cases for a fraction of the actual cases. i don’t think they have the equipment our resources to test everyone and have a centralized reporting system. also, it is a political hot potato. no country wants to admit it has tens of thousands of cases because they government will be accused of being inept (unfairly – because you can’t stop a flu virus, you can only hope it doesn’t stop you). there are way more cases in Mexico, and Chile and Argentina and Canada and the US than have been confirmed.
meaning – the mortality figures quoted or calculated don’t mean all that much.
that’s not to minimize the concern about the novel virus and, sadly, that people have died from it, including Argentinians. but if you want to worry about something worry about it mutating and arriving back in the northern hemisphere more leathal next winter – which is what happened with the spanish flu in 1918.
update – this flu turned out to be a lot worse than i thought. i didn’t get better and had to start tamiflu and antibiotics. i’m still pretty sick after 4 days, but have hopefully turned the corner. i had read that it seemed to be hitting healthy young adults hard, but didn’t think that i’d be one of them.
i still stand by my comments re the statistics – ie, they didn’t run any lab tests for swine flu at the private medical center i went to, so my case won’t be in any official statistics.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp, BBC and CNN running news stories about the high death rate due to H1N1 in Argentina. Showing people on the streets wearing masks and a deserted live theater district in Buenos Aires which was closed for 10 days. Not good for tourism.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090725/ap_on_he_me/us_med_swine_flu
Everybody now with a flue says is Gripe A and are getting Tamiflu?
I dont trust those numbers either.
Paranoia spread all over the world.
Private laboratories have to report to the Ministry of Health, it is mandatory. If they fail to report is because they are not working within the law.