H1N1 FLU: ELDERLY VICTIMS BRING DEATH TOLL TO 39

H1N1 FLU: ELDERLY VICTIMS BRING DEATH TOLL TO 39

(ANSA) - Rome, November 11 - The number of victims in Italy from the H1N1 flu climbed to 39 on Wednesday with the death of two elderly patients in the Tuscany and Campania regions.

Both of the victims were over 80 years old and in poor health before coming down with symptoms, doctors said.

However, neither would have been eligible for the vaccine, which the health ministry has reserved for people with chronic illnesses up to 65 years of age.

People over 65 have less than a 3% chance of contracting the flu, according to Junior Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio, 65, who said that neither he nor Premier Silvio Berlusconi, 73, planned on taking it.

Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, 75, however said that he and a number of other high-ranking church officials have taken the H1N1 flu shot, though he did not specify whether that included the Pope.

With over 15 flu victims and counting, the Campania region is the hardest hit in Italy by the pandemic, despite claims by the Naples-born minister for relations with parliament, Elio Vito, that "the rate of infection isn't any higher there than in the rest of the country".

Reporting to parliament on the government's strategy to contain the virus, Vito said that ''Italy has paid for 24 million doses of the flu vaccine, 10 million of which it expects by the end of the year''.

Despite repeated assurances from the health ministry and medical experts of the vaccine's safety, Italian consumer group Codacons said they were going on Italian TV on Wednesday to explain their reservations.

The consumer group is concerned about the possible risks of an additive called sqaulene present in the brand of vaccine purchased by the Italian government.

An immune system stimulant known to enhance vaccines, squalene was also a suspected cause of Gulf War Syndrome, a series of unexplained health symptoms affecting veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict.

Though most of the soldiers diagnosed with the illness had been exposed to squalene, further attempts to link the two were inconclusive.

However, the chemical is still banned from use in vaccines in the United States, a fact the consumer group said deserves an explanation.

Codacons also said it wants to know how the Italian health ministry and European Medicines Agency (EMA) can be sure the vaccine is safe after just a few months of testing.

The EMA has approved three different brands of the vaccine so far, two of which contain squalene.