Two die after swine flu infection in Hong Kong
Two men have died in Hong Kong after contracting swine flu, health authorities said Monday, a year-and-a-half after an outbreak of the disease killed 80 people in the city.
Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said a total of 35 people were being treated for swine flu in intensive care units in the city, with four critical cases confirmed in the last two days.
The southern Chinese financial centre, home to around seven million people, is nervous about infectious diseases, following an outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003, which killed 300 people in the city and a further 500 around the world.
The latest swine flu fatalities were aged 62 and 53 and died on Sunday due to what the Hospital Authority called "continued deterioration of clinical condition".
A 27-year-old woman died in Hong Kong on January 25 after contracting the A(H1N1) virus, which is commonly known as swine flu.
Swine flu has killed more than 18,400 people and affected practically all parts of the world since it was uncovered in Mexico and the United States in April 2009, according to the World Health Organization.
In August last year, the agency said swine flu had "largely run its course", declaring an end to the pandemic.
(c) 2011 AFP
