swine flu influenza medicine

first swine flu death--Cases in Japan, Australia

Health officials in Japan and Australia confirmed the first cases of H1N1 swine flu in each of their countries. The news comes as Costa Rica's Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila announced that country's first death from the virus. The patient, who also suffered from diabetes and chronic lung disease, was one of eight confirmed cases of swine flu to surface in Costa Rica.

Ms. Luisa Avila confirmed that a 53-year-old H1N1 swine-flu patient had died on Saturday "...at 12:20 a.m. from complications of a chronic lung disease." The death marks the first fatality outside of North America.

Mexico has confirmed 48 deaths from swine flu, while two have been confirmed in the United States, and Canadian officials say a woman who died last month had swine flu.
Meantime, WHO officials are gearing up, lest the global outbreak become a pandemic, which could strike up to 2 billion people, one of every three people on the planet. WHO officials have announced plans to produce 1-2 billion doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine over the next six months.