09. 11. 09. - 12:00

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09. 11. 09. - 12:00

Vienna school shut amid swine flu fears

By Lisa Chapman

A Vienna primary school has been closed amid fears of a swine flu outbreak among students, it emerged today (Mon).

Directors at the private Piarist "St. Thekla" primary school took the decision after consultation with a virologist after some of its 250 students became sick.

The school is expected to remain closed until at least Friday.

The move comes after authorities at a primary school in Pirka southwest of Graz, Styria, closed a class for a week earlier this month and an entire school in Lienz, East Tyrol, was shut down for a week when 26 students were struck down with suspected swine flu.

Meanwhile, a young pregnant woman who was recently hospitalised at Vienna’s Hanusch Hospital with a serious case of swine flu has given birth.

The hospital said over the weekend that she had given birth during the 24th or 25th week of her pregnancy early last Friday. The child is being treated in intensive care and the condition of the mother is stable but still serious.

Earlier this month, an 11-year-old girl from South Tyrol, Italy, who had been hospitalised in Innsbruck with swine flu died after 10 days of intensive care.

Martina Z. was the first person in Austria to die from swine flu.

Meanwhile, Austria’s 280,000 health-care personnel began to receive vaccinations against swine flu two weeks ago, and vaccination of 600,000 people at high risk – pregnant women and the chronically-ill – is set to begin today.

Austrian Times

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