H1N1: Swine Flu Deaths in Turkey now 241

H1N1 Swine flu claimed another 46 lives in Turkey this week, bringing the national death toll to 241, the health ministry said Thursday, amid resistance to the nation's vaccination plans.

Some 230 people infected with A(H1N1) virus remain hospitalised, among them 86 in intensive care, the ministry said on its web site.

Turkey's vaccination campaign, launched on November 2, has been hit by controversy, notably after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to have an injection and publicly chided the health minister over his insistent appeals on citizens to get vaccinated.

Turkey has planned to vaccinate 28 million of its 71-million population, but officials say the number of people who have so far volunteered for an injection is far below the expectations. Critics of the vaccine say its safety, efficiency and possible side effects have not been sufficiently tested.

H1N1: Swine Flu Cases in the US drop steadily but deaths above 'normal epidemic threshold'

Influenza infections fell for the fourth week in a row in the United States but the number of flu deaths remained above the epidemic threshold, a government health agency said in a weekly report.

During the week of November 15-21, 32 states reported widespread flu activity, down from 43 states the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its weekly flu report.

Nearly all the cases of flu were A(H1N1), or swine flu, the report said.

Hospitalization rates and deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza were both higher than expected for the time of year, with very young children -- ranging from newly-borns to four years -- having the highest hospitalization rate.

More than eight percent of all deaths reported to the CDC during the week covered by the report were due to pneumonia or influenza, a full percentage point above the epidemic threshold.
Deaths from pneumonia and influenza have been above the threshold for eight consecutive weeks, the CDC said.

Thirty-five of the deaths from flu were in young children, and in 27 of those deaths, swine flu had been confirmed in laboratory tests.

Seven children died of other influenza A viruses, which were not subtyped, and one child died of seasonal flu.

Since the swine flu outbreak was first reported, the CDC has received reports of 198 laboratory-confirmed pediatric deaths from the new strain of H1N1 flu, but that toll is thought to be "an undercount of the actual number," the federal health agency said.

The highest paediatric death toll from seasonal flu in the past three years was 88, CDC officials said last month.

Earlier this month, the CDC unveiled a new method for counting deaths from swine flu, and revised its estimated death toll from the new strain of flu to 4,000 people overall, including more than 500 children.

Worldwide, more than 207 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic swine flu, and 7,820 people have died of the new strain of flu, according to statistics released last week by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In North America, the Caribbean and a limited number of European countries, the WHO said "there are signs that disease activity has peaked."

Global swine flu deaths slow as WHO toll passes 6,250

More than 6,250 people have died in the swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation data showed Friday, as the global death rate appeared to slow.

The number of deaths from the A(H1N1) pandemic in the week to November 8 grew by about 179, against 224 a week earlier and a leap of about 700 in the last week of October.

The pandemic now stretches across 206 countries or territories worldwide, the WHO added in a statement.

The UN health agency said the influenza season showed signs of peaking in North America, but was intensifying across much of Europe and Central and Eastern Asia.

"Very intense and increasing influenza activity continues to be reported in Mongolia with a severe impact on the health care system," it added.

But the WHO found after investigating the sudden reported surge in flu cases in Ukraine in recent weeks that the swine flu virus had shown no signs of becoming stronger.

"The initial analysis of information indicates that the numbers of severe cases do not appear to be excessive when compared to the experience of other countries and do not represent any change in the transmission or virulence of the virus," the statement said.

More than 1.3 million Ukrainians have been taken ill with swine flu and 265 people have lost their lives to the virus since the end of October, the country's health ministry said Friday.

The Americas still account for the largest number of deaths. The WHO estimates 4,512 have died since the pandemic virus was first identified in April in Mexico and the United States, an increase of 113 in a week.

However, new data released late on Thursday, separate from the WHO figures, estimates that swine flu has killed as many as 3,900 people in the United States.

Health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used a new counting method that yielded an estimate six times higher than the last.

The CDC's previous estimated death toll from H1N1 was 672.

While still imprecise, the new numbers provide "a bigger picture of what has been going on in the first six months of the pandemic," Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters.

She said previous estimates were based on "laboratory confirmed cases of hospitalisation and death, potentially giving an incomplete picture of the story of this pandemic."

The WHO said the number of deaths reported in Europe stayed stable at some 300, with signs the pandemic caseload was peaking in parts of Britain, notably Northern Ireland, as well as in Ireland and Iceland.

Meanwhile, the virus spread to the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Friday as authorities there confirmed its first swine flu death.

Neighbouring Turkey, the only country to recognise the TRNC, also announced a further 20 deaths, bringing its total to 60 fatal cases.

Elsewhere in Europe, Hungarian officials said a 55-year-old and a 73-year-old woman had died in hospital from swine. Seven people have died from the virus in Hungary since July.

In Austria, the Kleine Zeitung newspaper said a 26-year-old man became the country's third fatal case after being hospitalised five days ago with an infection.

In Germany, Cologne footballer Christopher Schorch became the first player in the country's top division to contract the virus.

The 20-year-old German is being treated at home and should return to training next Wednesday, according to his club.

Sharp increases in cases were reported in several western and southern Asian nations, including Israel and Afghanistan in recent weeks, while growing numbers were reported in China and Japan.

Pandemic flu was largely on the wane in most of south and southeast Asia and in the warming southern hemisphere.

Workplace suicides in the US surges 28% in 2009

Workplace suicides in the US rose dramatically by 28% this year, according to the US Labor Department.

Circumstances have certainly not improved in the working environment, as anxious workers watched colleagues depart in a rash of layoffs and were left alone to manage their survivor's guilt.

At the same time, the agency's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said the total number of workers who died on the job from any cause fell 12%.

The 5,071 workplace fatalities recorded in 2008 was the lowest number since the agency began tracking the data in 1992. That number includes 251 suicides, the highest number since official reporting began.

Labor officials did not seek to explain the sudden rise in workplace suicides. A BLS spokesman said the agency plans to research it more extensively, and will anounce their findings at a later date.

The agency said that it is very likely that current economic factors could be responsible for the overall decline in fatalities. Workers on average worked 1% fewer hours last year and the construction industry, which usually accounts for a major share of serious accidents or accidental workplace deaths, posted even larger than normal declines in employment and hours worked.

Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University, said the numbers show that the struggling economy is taking a direct toll and negative impact on worker morale.

"Those who are still working at companies where there have been substantial layoffs, are trying to cope with survivor's guilt, and the anxiety that they may be next." Chaison said. "I also think there's tremendous anxiety for the future, in the American workplace. It's not just being anxious, its gone beyond that it is now a true depression."

Chaison added a note of caution, saying that the numbers may be 'temporary extremes' that will drift back toward normal, historical levels once employment rises and economic conditions improve.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis called the decline in workplace fatalities a "change in the right direction," but said it does not lessen the need for stronger safety enforcement to prevent accidental injuries.

"Today's report prompts us to step up our vigilance, particularly as the economy regains momentum," Solis said.

Here are some details on other findings:
• Fatal work injuries in the construction sector plummeted 20%.
• Workplace homicides dropped 18%.
• Fatal workplace falls declined 20% in 2008, after rising to a historic high in 2007.
• The number of fatal work injuries declined for all age categories except among the 'risk prone' 16 and 17-year-old workers.