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04. 11. 09. - 16:00

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04. 11. 09. - 16:00

Two swine flu victims in critical but stable condition

By Lisa Chapman

The two swine flu victims in Salzburg and Vienna hospitals remained in critical but stable condition, their doctors said today (Weds).

Salzburg provincial clinic press spokeswoman Mick Weinberger said a 41-year-old German man there was still in an artificial coma but was breathing.

A spokesperson at Vienna’s Hanusch Hospital said doctors were cautiously optimistic that the young woman in intensive care there would eventually recover. The media have reported the woman, 18, is pregnant.

Their fate continues to hang in the balance after the death of a third person who was seriously-ill with swine flu.

An 11-year-old girl from South Tyrol, Italy, hospitalised in Innsbruck with swine flu had died overnight after 10 days in intensive care, doctors said yesterday.

Christoph Wenisch, an infections specialist at Vienna’s Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital, told Austrian broadcaster ORF after speaking with colleagues in Innsbruck that Martina'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 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.

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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