Colombia announces seventh death from swine flu
02:12 PM, July 13 2009
BOGOTA, 13 Jul 2009 (AFP) - The swine flu deaths in Colombia increased to seven, on Monday confirmed the death of a woman in the west because of the virus, the government reported that 166 new infections recorded since the announced the first case, May 3.
The victim is an adult female resident of the town of Viterbo, Caldas department, who "consulted on July 5 with fever, cough, breathlessness, malaise and decay," said a communique of the Ministry of Social Protection (Health) .
According to the report, after being diagnosed as suspected, the patient was hospitalized and subjected to treatment by specialists, who provided antiviral but who died last Tuesday.
The communiqué said that Colombia so far 166 confirmed cases of infection by the virus A (H1N1), including seven deaths, including five in Bogota and in other neighboring Soacha. The first death occurred on June 4.
The Minister of Social Protection, Diego Palacio, stated on Monday that "it is impossible to stop the virus, so efforts should focus on mitigating the impact."
His colleague of Education, Cecilia Velez, for his part admitted the possibility of suspending classes at schools.
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