Brazil
Registers 221 H1N1 Flu Deaths in 2012
2012-07-27 12:57:39
The number of deaths caused by the H1N1 flu in Brazil this year
rose to 221, according to an official report released on Thursday.
Most of the deaths occurred in three states of the southern region
-- Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Parana, said the
Brazilian Health Ministry in the report.
It said that there was a reduction in the number of deaths in
recent weeks, which indicated that the peak of the disease had
already passed.
The government reaffirmed that Brazil's hospitals had been
supplied with sufficient amounts of Tamiflu, a drug used to treat
the H1N1 flu.
In addition, the country had launched a large vaccination
campaign, which ended in June, targeting more fragile groups, such
as pregnant women, elders, children aged six months to two years,
and patients with chronic diseases.
The death toll registered in 2012 in Brazil represents about 10
percent of the death tally registered in 2009, when 2,060 people
died of the disease.
The pandemic was officially declared ended by the World Health
Organization in 2010.