Swine flu in South Africa has claimed its eighth victim, an Eastern Cape woman, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said on Thursday.
The 38-year-old woman, who was in her third trimester of pregnancy, died at Dora Nzinga Hospital in Port Elizabeth. She was also a TB patient on treatment.
Earlier on Thursday, the institute confirmed that the virus was the cause of death of a 21-year-old Pretoria woman, making her the first Gauteng victim, and seventh in the country.
Spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said Annique Pretorius died in a Pretoria hospital on Monday after going into respiratory distress.
Swabs taken when she was in hospital were on Wednesday confirmed to contain the H1N1 virus.
”Yes, it is the first reported case in Gauteng,” Shabalala said.
She said Pretorius was first admitted to hospital with tonsillitis on August 8.
After three days she was discharged, but returned to the hospital in Pretoria West the same night with a fever that would not break.
Doctors then decided to test for the virus and Pretorius was transferred to Kalafong Hospital.
”She was then put in the intensive care unit where she went into severe respiratory distress and then she unfortunately, after two days, passed away,” said Shabalala.
The institute said that of the eight confirmed deaths, three had been pregnant. Four had no underlying conditions, while one had hypertension and was diabetic.
It said there had been 3 485 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu throughout the country, most of which were mild.
Containment of the flu, formally known as H1N1, was not possible given its highly infectious nature.
The focus should therefore be on identifying persons at risk for complications, including the elderly, pregnant women and anyone with underlying illness such diabetes, HIV and Aids and chronic lung or chest infections.
Members of the public should practice basic hygiene including washing hands regularly and coughing or sneezing into a tissue or sleeve. — Sapa