BEIJING - The Wall Street Journal
China reported its first death from H1N1 influenza Tuesday, according to a statement posted on the Web site of the Ministry of Health, nearly six months after the virus was first detected in Mexico.
The victim was an 18-year-old woman in Lhasa, the capital of the far western Tibet Autonomous Region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. She was admitted to the Maizhokunggar county hospital on Saturday with a cough, sore throat and stiff muscles and was pronounced dead at around 3:20 a.m. on Sunday, the report said.
China has taken strict measures to combat the spread of the H1N1 virus, including quarantining large numbers of visiting foreigners and restricting imports of pork products from North America and Europe. Last month the State Food and Drug Administration approved two domestically made single-dose swine flu vaccines. But since China lacks the capacity to produce enough doses to cover the entire population of 1.3 billion, health authorities have given priority to certain groups such as children, pregnant women, health care workers and participants in last week's National Day parade.
To date, mainland China has reported more than 21,000 confirmed cases of the H1N1 influenza, but until now it hadn't reported any deaths. In the south China territory of Hong Kong, which maintains a separate reporting system, authorities have reported around 28,000 confirmed H1N1 cases and 28 deaths. World-wide, more than 4,100 people have died of swine flu. Though the H1N1 strain of the flu has not increased in virulence, experts stress that H1N1, and influenza viruses in general, remains unpredictable.
Also on Tuesday, the World Health Organization endorsed the use of vaccines to prevent swine flu. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the current vaccine formulation is among the safest vaccines the organization has seen, and encouraged people around the world to get vaccinated, according to the Associated Press.
The victim was an 18-year-old woman in Lhasa, the capital of the far western Tibet Autonomous Region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. She was admitted to the Maizhokunggar county hospital on Saturday with a cough, sore throat and stiff muscles and was pronounced dead at around 3:20 a.m. on Sunday, the report said.
China has taken strict measures to combat the spread of the H1N1 virus, including quarantining large numbers of visiting foreigners and restricting imports of pork products from North America and Europe. Last month the State Food and Drug Administration approved two domestically made single-dose swine flu vaccines. But since China lacks the capacity to produce enough doses to cover the entire population of 1.3 billion, health authorities have given priority to certain groups such as children, pregnant women, health care workers and participants in last week's National Day parade.
To date, mainland China has reported more than 21,000 confirmed cases of the H1N1 influenza, but until now it hadn't reported any deaths. In the south China territory of Hong Kong, which maintains a separate reporting system, authorities have reported around 28,000 confirmed H1N1 cases and 28 deaths. World-wide, more than 4,100 people have died of swine flu. Though the H1N1 strain of the flu has not increased in virulence, experts stress that H1N1, and influenza viruses in general, remains unpredictable.
Also on Tuesday, the World Health Organization endorsed the use of vaccines to prevent swine flu. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the current vaccine formulation is among the safest vaccines the organization has seen, and encouraged people around the world to get vaccinated, according to the Associated Press.
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