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World Jewish News
Two more Israelis succumb to swine flu, bringing toll to 9
17.08.2009
Two more Israelis died on Monday due to complications from the swine flu, becoming the eight and ninth people in Israel to succumb to the pandemic.
The two men, 76 and 67, died at the Sharon Hospital and Beilinson Hospital, both in Petah Tikva.
12 other Israelis with swine flu were still in intensive care units around the country on Monday.
According to a Health Ministry report released last week, the number of people who have caught the disease rose 3.6 percent in August.
The ministry has recorded some 2,150 cases of verified swine flu in Israel, half of them patients under the age of 30. The disease is spreading fastest in Haifa, the north and Jerusalem, though the largest number of people suffering from the flu has been recorded in the central region.
A study conducted by the Health Ministry's department of epidemiology, based on 1,503 swine flu patients, showed that only 5 percent of those diagnosed were over the age of 50. This figure bucks the trend of normal seasonal flus, in which the disease is more widespread among older citizens.
The study also showed that swine flu is slightly more widespread among men than women, like most infectious diseases.
In the first three weeks of July, patients whose symptoms could indicate swine flu were tested for the disease only if they were considered high-risk, including those suffering from chronic diseases, pregnant women and hospitalized patients, while for the last two weeks, only people admitted with acute respiratory conditions or people living near a known outbreak have been tested. Therefore, the ministry's figures for the rise in the number of swine flu patients are estimates, based on the number of people whose symptoms seem likely to be caused by the disease.
By the end of last week, these estimates found, the number of people contracting swine flu each week had risen to 1,346 - a fourfold increase compared to two weeks earlier. In the Tel Aviv region, 696 people a week now catch swine flu, or 2.2 times more than two weeks ago, while in the Jerusalem region, the number rose to 355 people a week, or 4.4 times more than two weeks earlier.
In Haifa, it rose to 348 people - a whopping 7.9 times more than two weeks earlier. In the south, the number rose to 332 people, or 3.5 times more than two weeks earlier, while in the north, it rose to 244 people, or fully five times more than two weeks ago.
By Dan Even, Haaretz Correspondent
Источник: Haaretz
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