• croatiantimes.com
• romaniantimes.at
• salzburgtimes.at
• viennatimes.at
• austrianindependent.com

Today

• Vienna - VESCC English Catholic Mass
• Vienna - Unknown Underground
• Vienna- January and February at the Austrian Film Museum
• Vienna - Art by Petronilla Hohenwarter.
• STOMP at the MuseumsQuartier

11. 11. 09. - 16:00

• more General News news
• RSS Feed General News

11. 11. 09. - 16:00

Swine flu patient dies

By Lisa Chapman

A 39-year-old Romanian hospitalised with swine flu in Schwarzach in Salzburg’s Pongau region died yesterday (Tues), doctors have said.

Salzburg public-health director Christoph König said the construction worker, who died of a heart attack, had already been very weak when he entered the hospital and died soon after he was put into intensive care.

He said the man’s fever had suddenly risen and he had started vomiting, triggering a series of complications including shocked lungs and, finally, a heart attack.

König added people younger than 50 who were especially susceptible to complications if they got swine flu, explaining that people in that age group had stronger immune systems that often went out of control and attacked their own bodies.

The man was the second victim of swine flu in Austria.

An 11-year-old girl from South Tyrol, Italy, hospitalised in Innsbruck with swine flu died early this month after 10 days in intensive care.

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.

In a related development, a third person, a 77-year-old man, has been moved into intensive care with swine flu at Salzburg provincial clinic (SALK).

He had been hospitalised because of a chronic kidney problem and then infected with swine flu by a visiting grandchild who had the disease.

Two other swine flu victims are also in intensive care at SALK. 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 life of all three patients in intensive care is in danger, SALK staff have said.

Meanwhile Franz X. Heinz, the head of the Clinical Institute for Virology at Vienna Medical University, said today there had been 10,800 cases of swine flu in the greater Vienna area in the last week.

He added that current information indicated a wave of swine flu had begun in Austria. "We have had a big increase in the number of cases," he said, adding there had been a huge increase in the number of cases among people 14 years of age or younger.

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

As a result of the spread of swine flu, the Statutory Social Insurance Association has decided that people can buy anti-viral medication Tamiflu with a doctor’s prescription.

People are also responding to doctors’ recommendations that they be vaccinated. More than 9,000 people had been vaccinated as of yesterday evening in Vienna, Burgenland, Lower Austria, Styria, Salzburg, Carinthia and Vorarlberg.

In Vienna, 6,900 people had been vaccinated as of 3pm yesterday. President Heinz Fischer and his wife Margit were among those vaccinated yesterday.

Social Democratic (SPÖ) Health Minister Alois Stöger said yesterday: "We have prepared for the predicted wave of swine flu cases as well as possible."

The Health Ministry announced yesterday 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 goes into effect today, 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.

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

Related articles: medical focus

1. Mayor calls for AKH budget reform as docs consider strike

   » General News 2011-12-06

   Michael Häupl, the mayor of Vienna, has suggested that the city and the state should share the management and maintenance costs for the country’s largest clinic.

2. Fewer AKH docs on night duty from next year

   » Business 2011-11-29

   The number of doctors on night duty at Austria’s largest clinics is set to shrink, it has emerged.

3. Greens adamant about Vienna road toll

   » General News 2011-11-28

   Vienna Vice Mayor Maria Vassilakou has vowed to keep fighting for a city road toll regulation.

more related articles tagged "medical focus"

Clem Chambers - All the pointers say there is light at the end of the tunnel
PERMA-BEARS BEWARE: 2012 LOOKS BULLISH, says Clem Chambers, CEO of leading stocks and shares information website ADVFN.com and author of "101 Ways to Pick Stock Market Winners".

Foglar infuriated by 'tactical games'
Austrian Trade Union (ÖGB) President Erich Foglar has accused the vice chancellor of "playing games".

Le Carré novel hits the big screen
A new espionage film is now on at the Burgkino Vienna where all movies are screened in their original versions.

Kadyrov welcomes Austrian right-wingers
A delegation of representatives of a rightist Austrian party met with Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, it has emerged.

Gourmet evenings at Linsberg Asia
Less than an hour away from Vienna is the Linsberg Asia - four star hotel, spa and culinary hotspot. For several years now the Linsberg restaurant has been producing award-winning food, receiving the ultimate accolade in the most recent Gault Millau when its lamb was described simply as melt in the mouth.

Felderer 'disappointed' as government eyes up tax hikes
A leading economist has criticised the government for making tax hikes an essential part of its upcoming savings package.

Unionists criticise hotels over mini-jobbers
Labour union leaders are alarmed as the number of tourism sector mini-jobbers is climbing.

Satek snatches Zielpunkt
A German businessman has taken over Zielpunkt.

Authentic austrian restaurant open In Los Angeles
Austrian-born Chef Bernhard Mairinger will open BierBeisl, the first and only authentic Austrian restaurant in Los Angeles, later this month. Mairinger was formerly Chef de Cuisine for Patina, the Patina Group’s Michelin-star flagship restaurant in the city.

Europe's highest brewery in Austria
Europe’s highest brewery has opened in Austria. The "Asitz Bräu" which opened for business on 17 December last year, is located at 1,760 metres and is run by the Altenberger family, owners of four star hotel "Der Krallerhof" in Leogang.