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Austria swamped by swine flu, claims expert

By Lisa Chapman

A wave of swine flu has hit Austria, a top virologist has claimed.

Franz X. Heinz, the head of the Clinical Institute for Virology at Vienna Medical University, said today (Tues): "We have had a big increase of confirmed cases."

He added the new outbreak had been observable for several days.

Social Democratic (SP�) Health Minister Alois St�ger said: "We have prepared for the predicted wave of swine flu cases as well as possible."

The Health Ministry announced today that it had increased the so-called mitigation level from stage one to stage two within the framework of pandemic alarm stage 6, the highest.

The change will go into effect tomorrow, meaning all healthcare institutions will report new cases of swine flu to a central office that will record the cases countrywide.

The ministry said it had used a similar system to track outbreaks of seasonal flu and it had clearly shown both when they began and ended.

Suspect cases would in future be considered swine flu cases and trips abroad would no longer be used as epidemiology criteria, the ministry added.

Yesterday was the first day of vaccinations for the general public, and many of Vienna�s 21 vaccination locations had long lines of people waiting for them in the morning. The situation was similar in many other cities and towns.

President Heinz Fischer and his wife Margit were among those vaccinated yesterday.

Meanwhile two classes at the Ursulinen sium and the primary school Lehen II in Glasenbach, Salzburg, closed today for a week because more than 50 per cent of their students had become ill.

A class at a secondary school in Jenbach, Tyrol, has been closed until 17 November and a primary school class in Heinfels, East Tyrol, has been closed until 16 November, provincial authorities said today.

The private Piarist primary school "St. Thekla" in Vienna-Weiden closed for at least a week yesterday and the Lustenau-Kirchdorf secondary school in Vorarlberg closed for a week yesterday after more than a quarter of students and some teachers had become ill.

An entire school in Lienz, East Tyrol, was shut down for a week when 26 students were struck down by suspected swine flu.

Another patient with a severe case of swine flu has been hospitalised at Salzburg provincial clinic (SALK). Hospital staff said an Upper Austrian man, 58, had been transferred there from a Linz hospital after contracting a lung infection and falling into septic shock. He has been put into an artificial coma and put on a breathing machine. A 41-year-old man from Bavaria who has been in intensive care for two weeks at SALK remains in critical condition.

The Austrian Society for Medical Care of Children and Adolescents said today all children should be immunised against both swine and seasonal flu. It said 50 per cent of swine flu victims were children and adolescents.

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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