WHO, 전 세계 신종플루 사망자 6천260명(2009.11.13 금)
flu deaths slow as WHO toll passes 6,250
출처 : AFP통신 Fri Nov 13, 4:09 pm ET
GENEVA (AFP) – More than 6,250 people have died in the swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation data showed Friday, as the global death rate appeared to slow.
The number of deaths from the A(H1N1) pandemic in the week to November 8 grew by about 179, against 224 a week earlier and a leap of about 700 in the last week of October.
The pandemic now stretches across 206 countries or territories worldwide, the WHO added in a statement.
The UN health agency said the influenza season showed signs of peaking in North America, but was intensifying across much of Europe and Central and Eastern Asia.
“Very intense and increasing influenza activity continues to be reported in Mongolia with a severe impact on the health care system,” it added.
But the WHO found after investigating the sudden reported surge in flu cases in Ukraine in recent weeks that the swine flu virus had shown no signs of becoming stronger.
“The initial analysis of information indicates that the numbers of severe cases do not appear to be excessive when compared to the experience of other countries and do not represent any change in the transmission or virulence of the virus,” the statement said.
More than 1.3 million Ukrainians have been taken ill with swine flu and 265 people have lost their lives to the virus since the end of October, the country’s health ministry said Friday.
The Americas still account for the largest number of deaths. The WHO estimates 4,512 have died since the pandemic virus was first identified in April in Mexico and the United States, an increase of 113 in a week.
However, new data released late on Thursday, separate from the WHO figures, estimates that swine flu has killed as many as 3,900 people in the United States.
Health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used a new counting method that yielded an estimate six times higher than the last.
The CDC’s previous estimated death toll from H1N1 was 672.
While still imprecise, the new numbers provide “a bigger picture of what has been going on in the first six months of the pandemic,” Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters.
She said previous estimates were based on “laboratory confirmed cases of hospitalisation and death, potentially giving an incomplete picture of the story of this pandemic.”
The WHO said the number of deaths reported in Europe stayed stable at some 300, with signs the pandemic caseload was peaking in parts of Britain, notably Northern Ireland, as well as in Ireland and Iceland.
Meanwhile, the virus spread to the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Friday as authorities there confirmed its first swine flu death.
Neighbouring Turkey, the only country to recognise the TRNC, also announced a further 20 deaths, bringing its total to 60 fatal cases.
Elsewhere in Europe, Hungarian officials said a 55-year-old and a 73-year-old woman had died in hospital from swine. Seven people have died from the virus in Hungary since July.
In Austria, the Kleine Zeitung newspaper said a 26-year-old man became the country’s third fatal case after being hospitalised five days ago with an infection.
In Germany, Cologne footballer Christopher Schorch became the first player in the country’s top division to contract the virus.
The 20-year-old German is being treated at home and should return to training next Wednesday, according to his club.
Sharp increases in cases were reported in several western and southern Asian nations, including Israel and Afghanistan in recent weeks, while growing numbers were reported in China and Japan.
Pandemic flu was largely on the wane in most of south and southeast Asia and in the warming southern hemisphere.
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전세계 신종플루 사망자 6천260명 < WHO >
“북반구 겨울 인플루엔자 시즌 정점 도달”
출처 : 연합뉴스 2009/11/14 03:12 송고
(제네바=연합뉴스) 맹찬형 특파원 = 세계보건기구(WHO)는 13일 전세계에서 인플루엔자 A［H1N1］(신종플루)로 인한 사망자 수가 6천260명(8일 현재)으로 집계됐다고 밝혔다.
지난주 집계된 사망자 6천71명에 비해 1주일 사이에 189명이 더 증가한 것이다.
대륙별로는 미주 지역의 사망자가 4천512명으로 가장 많았고, 아시아.태평양 지역이 1천194명(동남아 678+서태평양 516명)으로 뒤를 이었다.
유럽 지역 사망자는 최소한 300명 이상인 것으로 집계됐고, 중동과 아프리카는 각각 151명과 103명이었다.
특히 WHO는 북반구 대부분의 지역에서 겨울 인플루엔자 시즌이 예년보다 일찍 시작되면서 북미와 서유럽, 중앙아시아 및 동아시아 등에서는 정점에 도달했다는 징후가 나타나고 있다고 밝혔다.
캐나다의 경우 독감유사증세(ILI) 환자가 급격히 증가하는 가운데 감염 지역이 서부에서 동부로 확산되고 있다.
미국은 인플루엔자 전염이 지리적으로 광범위하게 나타나는 가운데 0∼4세 영유아, 5∼17세, 18∼49세 연령대의 입원율이 예년 인플루엔자 시즌의 수준을 넘어섰다. 환자가 일찍 발생한 미국 남부와 남동부 지역에서는 이미 정점에 도달했을 가능성이 있다고 WHO는 밝혔다.
유럽과 중앙아시아는 대유행 바이러스가 동쪽으로 확산되면서 전반적인 인플루엔자 활동이 대륙 전체에 걸쳐 지속적으로 강화되고 있다.
현재 유럽에서 확인된 인플루엔자 A 바이러스의 99% 이상이 대유행 H1N1 바이러스이며, 다만 러시아의 경우에는 10% 정도가 계절성 독감인 것으로 나타나고 있다.
동아시아 지역에서 몽골의 인플루엔자 활동이 보건의료 체계에 심각한 타격을 줄 정도로 심각하며, 일본도 전국적으로 인플루엔자 감염이 지속적이고 빠르게 증가하고 있다.
중국의 경우 지난 3∼4주 동안 독감유사 증세 및 호흡기 질환으로 병원을 찾는 비율이 크게 늘고 있는 가운데 인플루엔자 바이러스의 80% 정도가 대유행 바이러스로 확인되고 있다.
