More swine flu deaths in the souths

What happens in South Italy? Yesterday the Ministry of Health updated the swine flu report. The number of deaths has risen to 137. A total of 67 people have died in the regions of South Italy: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, and Puglia. The virus has killed 30 people in Campania, 18 in Puglia, and 13 in Calabria. So, the 55% of swine flu deaths has occurred in the south, where live only the 25% of the Italians. According to the Ministry, the national update depends on the speed of the regional updates, so maybe there's a difference in the regional reporting. Or maybe something really happened in South Italy. By the way, the Italian news media are still covering the issue, even though there are fewer articles.

Topo Gigio, again

Two or three weeks ago the Ministry of Health has launched a new television advertising campaign. The main character is Topo Gigio, the puppet that already featured the first ad against the swine flu. This time Topo Gigio gives a piece of advice about vaccination. It explains who should get the swine flu shot, and who the seasonal one. The result is a bit confusing. Maybe the subject is too complicated to explain all in an ad.

Swine flu not so harmless

According to the Italian Minister of Health the fatal cases of the swine flu are 34 (0.0043%), people in intensive care 108 (0.013%). There are no official data about the age of the victims, but Ansa press agency reports that a large part of the fatal cases are young (maybe 90%). In the past days the Deputy Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio kept repeating that seasonal flu causes each year 8,000 victims, so the death rate of the swine flu is much less of the one of the seasonal flu. But is this correct? Really the swine flu is so mild? The Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) has published data about the causes of death in 2006. The flu killed 298 people (22 in people under age 65), and all the pneumonia 6,749.
Actually, the swine flu is going to change the mortality pattern, especially for young people.

What the minister is asking

Another fatal case of swine flu occurred in Italy. A 37 years old musician died in Salerno, a city south of Naples. Italian newspapers keep track of the death toll, now 18, even though yesterday the Deputy Minister of Health Ferruccio Fazio asked the media to suspend it. Professor Fazio explained that this flu is milder then the seasonal one and that there is no need to worry. However, the Minister from now on will issue a daily update of the pandemic. So, maybe Professor Fazio himself doesn't think the uproar is going to be abated very soon. Actually, he pleaded everyone not to rush to the emergency room, but to consult first the family's doctor.

A new web site

Today the Italian Ministry of Labour and Health has launched a web site, www.fermailvirus.it. The service is aimed at the general public, mainly at parents. There's a special section for pregnant women and other paregraphs for small children. Instead, there's no mention of another group at risk, people with chronic lung disease (I wonder why). And no information for doctors and nurses (they have other sources). The campaing is quite new for Italy: on the web site there's a lot of stuff about recognizing symptoms, things to do, suggestions etc. It's good, but I prefer the CDC web site, because there are more information and it doesn't speak to me as I were a child.