Over three lakh cases of swine flu reported worldwide: WHO

Swine flu cases worldwide crossed the 3 lakh-mark even as health officials continued to seek ways and means to contain the spread of the disease. Already 3.19 lakh people have been affected across the globe due to the H1N1 virus which causes swine flu and a total of 3,917 deaths have been reported from 191 countries. According to latest data of Union Health Ministry, India has reported 10,378 cases of H1N1 influenza cases and 328 deaths from the infection. The WHO Global Influenza Surveillance report said over one lakh people have tested positive in North and South America, where over 2,948 deaths have been reported. This is followed by the Western Pacific region with over 85,299 people testing positive for the virus and more than 300 deaths being reported from there, WHO said. The third most affected area is European countries with over 53,000 people already testing positive for H1N1 virus and 154 deaths reported from there. It is followed by the South-East Asian region. Nearly 30,293 positive cases and 340 deaths have been reported from different countries in this region. The Eastern Mediterranean has reported 11,621 positive swine flu cases along with 72 deaths there followed by Africa where 8,264 positive cases and 41 deaths have been registered. A finding by the WHO also suggest that the pandemic flu virus, H1N1, continued to be the dominant one in the atmosphere. Between April 19 and September 12, pandemic H1N1 virus was the dominant virus in the atmosphere. On an average, the pandemic A (H1N1) accounted for 60.6 per cent of all flu detections in northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, according to the finding..