Brazil's health authorities confirmed seven more new deaths of the A/H1N1 on Monday, raising the death toll to 45.
Four of the victims, two men and two women, were from Sao Paulo state in southeastern Brazil, while the other three, all male, were from Parana state in the south.
Deaths from the A/H1N1 flu in Brazil are so far confined in four states: Sao Paulo state has 20, Rio Grande do Sul state 16, Rio de Janeiro state five and Parana state four.
The victims included seven children and six pregnant women. The babies died with their mothers in most of the cases.
According to the latest data released by the health ministry last Wednesday, 1,566 A/H1N1 flu cases were confirmed in Brazil, with another 8,328 suspected cases.
The actual number of people infected, however, may be much higher. Rio Grande do Sul state's health secretary Osmar Terra estimated that some 10,000 people in the state have, or had the flu.
According to him, even though the majority of the A/H1N1 flu patients do not require hospital admittance, 392 people infected by the flu are now being hospitalized in his state, and 101 of them are in intensive care units.
The country's health authorities have taken a series of measures to contain the spread of the flu. The army is patrolling Brazil's southern borders while school classes were suspended in several areas. Special health centers exclusive for A/H1N1 flu patients were set up in Rio de Janeiro, while hotlines and websites were also set up to provide information about the flu to the public.
The World Health Organization estimates that over 134,000 people in the world were infected with the A /H1N1 flu, with 816 deaths.
(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)
