Africa-Tanzania announces first death from H1N1 influenza

[Gert van der Hoek]

google translated

Tanzania announces first death from H1N1 influenza

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzania has announced Saturday the death of a teacher of 40 years who succumbed to influenza H1N1, the first fatal victim listed in the countries of the Horn of Africa.

"A woman has died of swine flu on Thursday, two days after starting treatment," said a district medical officer, told AFP.

Some 170 cases of H1N1 have been recorded over the last three months in the country.

The H1N1 flu has killed at least 4525 people since the emergence of new viruses in March, according to the latest assessment of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.

October 10 2009

http://www.romandie.com/ats/news/091010173318.638d6nxm.asp

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Africa-Tanzania announces first death from H1N1 influenza

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/671232/-/135r5cez/-/

Swine flu claims first victim in Tanzania

By ZEPHANIA UBWANI, NATION CorrespondentPosted Sunday, October 11 2009 at 22:30

ARUSHA, Sunday

Swine flu, first reported in Tanzania hardly three months ago, has claimed its first victim.

The first death was confirmed in Mbulu District, Manyara region where at least 35 people have tested positive to H1N1.

The district medical officer, Dr Anael Palangyo, told the Nation today that the victim was one of those who had tested positive to the disease.

She was identified as Ms Elizabeth Passi, a primary school teacher in Mbulu township.

Ms Passi died on Thursday at the hospital there.

Several patients

Dr Palangyo said the deceased was among several swine flu victims who had been admitted to the district hospital.

He stated that although several patients were treated and discharged, Ms Passi?s situation deteriorated leading to her death.

?This could be the first confirmed death from a swine flu case in the country,? Dr Palangyo said over the telephone from Mbulu.

He could not rule out the possibility of the situation worsening because there were already 167 other people in the area suspected to have been infected with the virus.

 

[Tonka]

Re: Africa-Tanzania announces first death from H1N1 influenza

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86551

TANZANIA: Fifty quarantined as first H1N1 death reported

Monday 12 October 2009

DAR ES SALAAM, 12 October 2009 (IRIN) - At least 50 people have been quarantined in Tanzania's northern district of Mbulu to curb the spread of influenza H1N1, a highly contagious viral disease that killed one person last week, say health officials.

The death is the first in East Africa.

"We are struggling to control [the] further spread of the disease. Until late yesterday [11 October], the number of people suspected to have been infected had reached 158," said Anael Pallangyo, Mbulu District Medical Officer.

Pallangyo said a 40-year-old primary school teacher died of H1N1 at the local district hospital where she was admitted for treatment two days earlier. All 18 dispensaries in the district were now on alert and about 50 patients placed in isolation wards.

Tanzanian health authorities have stepped up surveillance at all the country's entry points, where people with flu-related symptoms such as coughing, fever and sneezing are taken to hospital for screening and treatment.

The ministry of health recently announced 172 confirmed cases of H1N1 at the end of September.

As of 9 October, 24 countries in Africa had officially reported 12,456 laboratory-confirmed human cases of H1N1, including 70 deaths, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO). South Africa has reported most of the cases at 11,545 and 59 deaths.

WHO, however, notes that the reported number of cases understates the real number as countries are no longer required to test and report individual cases.


jk/aw/mw