WHO: global death toll from swine flu now over 700

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WHO: global death toll from swine flu now over 700

By FRANK JORDANS (AP) – 2 hours ago

GENEVA — The worldwide death toll from swine flu has doubled in the past month,

reaching over 700 since the start of the outbreak last spring, the World Health

Organization said Tuesday.

The U.N. health agency also said it is examining how countries can tackle the

expected explosion in cases predicted this fall, when students and workers in

the northern hemisphere return from summer vacation.

Closing schools can help break the chain of swine flu transmission, though at

risk of considerable economic cost, the British medical journal The Lancet

reported Tuesday. The study is to be published in next month's edition.

" School closures is one of the mitigation measures that could be considered by

countries, " WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told reporters in Geneva.

The agency has stressed that although the disease is " unstoppable " in the long

term, slowing its spread is important to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed by

the sheer number of new cases.

WHO stopped asking governments to report infections last week, saying it was

" extremely difficult, if not impossible " for countries with large numbers of

cases to keep track of each new one.

But the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control,

ECDC, said Monday there had been over 2,300 new reported cases in 24 hours,

taking the global total to almost 140,000. Many more could have gone undetected,

since the virus causes only mild illness in most cases that does not require

medical treatment.

WHO did not give a breakdown of the deaths Tuesday. But as of last week, the

United States reported 263 deaths, Canada reported 45 deaths and Britain had 29.

According to WHO's last update on July 6, there were 119 deaths in Mexico.

Yet even Tuesday's figure of 700 deaths may seriously underestimate the true

toll, experts say, because not all swine flu cases are being picked up due to

testing limitations.

The Lancet paper, written by researchers at London's Imperial College, argues

that school closures would allow more time for a vaccine to be produced and

administered widely. Estimates for when this might be the case vary from

September to the end of the year.

Slowing the pandemic would also limit the burden on national health care systems

and reduce the peak in worker absenteeism, the paper argues.

France is among the countries reportedly considering school closures, though

decisions would be made on a a case-by-case basis, Le Parisien daily reported

Thursday.

France's Education Ministry has already prepared nearly 300 hours of educational

programming for radio and television to allow those affected by school closures

to follow their lessons, it said.

Associated Press writers Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva, Cheng in London and

Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.