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03. 11. 09. - 06:00

First swine flu death in Austria

By Lisa Chapman

An 11-year-old girl from South Tyrol, Italy, hospitalised in Innsbruck with swine flu has died after 10 days in intensive care, doctors said today (Tues).

Christoph Wenisch, a specialist on infections at Vienna’s Kaiser Franz-Josef Hospital, told Austrian broadcaster ORF after speaking with colleagues in Innsbruck that the girl's immune system had run "out of control" after she suffered from a bacterial infection and was then infected by the swine flu virus A/H1N1.

He said: "Her immune system was tackling both infections and the fight against one was working against the fight against the other."

The girl's - identified as Martina - condition had "clearly worsened" yesterday after her lungs had stopped functioning and she was put on a heart-lung machine to supply her with necessary oxygen. Doctors confirmed she had died overnight.

The girl was the first person in Austria to die from swine flu. She had been at Innsbruck Children’s Clinic since 23 October.

Meanwhile doctors say they are cautiously optimistic about two other seriously-ill swine flu patients.

Doctors at Hanusch Hospital in Vienna where an 18-year-old pregnant woman has been in intensive care since last Thursday said her breathing was now better and her situation, although still critical, had stabilised.

A spokeswoman for Salzburg provincial clinic said a 41-year-old German man who was hospitalised there last Wednesday with swine flu and a serious bacterial lung infection was "better" although still in an artificial coma.

He had been responding well to antibiotics for combating multi-organ sepsis, she added.

Swine flu also caused the closure of a school last week. East Tyrol authorities closed a school in Lienz for a week on Wednesday after 26 students were struck down with suspected swine flu.

Meanwhile, Austria’s 280,000 health-care personnel began to receive vaccinations against swine flu on Tuesday last week.

The vaccination of the 600,000 people at high risk – pregnant women and the chronically-ill – is set to begin on 9 November.

Health authorities say they have enough vaccine for 800,000 people to be vaccinated by the end of November.

The ministry has received 520,000 doses of pharmaceutical firm Baxter’s "Celvapan" swine flu vaccine and will receive additional doses at the rate of 200,000 a week.

Health-insurance funds will cover the cost of the vaccinations except for a fee of 4.90 Euros a dose. Doctors recommend that people receive two doses of the vaccine three weeks apart.

Austrian Times

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