H1N1 VIRUS: TWO VICTIMS IN NAPLES BRING DEATH TOLL TO 14
H1N1 VIRUS: TWO VICTIMS IN NAPLES BRING DEATH TOLL TO 14
(ANSA) - Naples, November 2 - A 72-year-old Naples woman became Italy's 14th victim of the H1N1 flu virus on Monday, according to local health officials.
The woman is the eighth person to die in Naples of the flu so far after a 45-year-old woman with pneumonia died on the same morning.
Of the eight, seven have died since last Tuesday.
All but one also suffered from serious pre-existing conditions: Emiliana D'Auria, a 12-year-old girl from the suburb of Pompei who died on Saturday.
D'Auria's family insists that she was in good health before coming down with the flu last week, though doctors suspect a possible heart deformation may have contributed to her death.
The results of an autopsy expected on Tuesday will determine if D'Auria was the second flu victim in Italy not to have suffered from other health problems after a Sicilian woman who died in Messina in late September.
Naples prosecutor Giovandomenico Lepore on Monday announced an inquiry into D'Auria's death to ensure doctors did everything in her power to save her life.
''We want to clear up any doubts about this case and determine exactly how and why this child died,'' said Lepore.
This investigation may also help to explain why more than half of Italy's flu victims have been in Naples.
Italian health officials are also concerned that D'Auria's death could fuel flu hysteria among parents who last week took children to Italian emergency rooms at a rate 80% higher than the week before.
Junior Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio has encouraged anyone who thinks they may have been infected with the virus not to go to the hospital, but to stay home and call their doctor.
Fazio has also stated that the number of deaths from the flu so far suggests a mortality rate ten times lower than seasonal influenza.
The junior health minister reiterated that Italy's vaccination campaign was well underway with two million doses distributed to the country's hospitals.
Fazio said the national health service would begin vaccinating high-risk cases including people with chronic illnesses and pregnant women on Monday.
Last week, Fazio announced that the virus was spreading through Italy faster than any other country in the European Union infecting around 400,000 people.
Before then, the healthy ministry's estimates for the pandemic in Italy had been far more conservative.
The World Health Organization has announced that over 700 new flu deaths were reported around the world last week bringing the global death toll to 5,712.
