South Carolina is one of three Southern states reporting an uptick in H1N1 flu that health officials are investigating.

Alabama and Georgia also are seeing an increase, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alabama: A man who died this week in Etowah County is believed to be the first death here from H1N1 flu, Mark Johnson, assistant area administrator for Public Health Area 5, said Friday.

Sarasota, FL: For the first time in more than three months, an H1N1 flu-related death has been recorded in the Bradenton-Sarasota area.

Illinois: 1 new death.

source: Just when you thought spring was officially here, parts of Arkansas receive another round of snowfall. Now, state health officials are warning of a spike in the number of H1N1 cases, as well.

Over the past two weeks, the Arkansas Department of Health reports seeing an increase of positive results for the H1N1 flu virus. This raises concern over the possibility that flu activity is making a comeback.

source: A Lafayette County child has died of influenza, the state Department of Health reported today.

The Health Department did not give the name or exact age of the victim, but identified the youth as 18 years old or younger.

A primary school in Hong Kong started to suspend classes for seven days from Wednesday, following an outbreak of A/H1N1 influenza and influenza B in the school.

The Department of Health of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government advised Raimondi College Primary Section in Wan Chai to close for a week.

$
Xinhua

Five states reported regional H1N1 influenza activity, and Puerto Rico and six states reported local influenza activity, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The weekly flu surveillance report — completed during flu season by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — said for the week ending March 6 H1N1 influenza activity remained at approximately the same levels as last week.

The proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness was 1.9 percent, which is below the national baseline of 2.3 percent. However, three of 10 regions reported influenza-like illness at or above region-specific baseline levels.

No states reported widespread influenza activity, but regional influenza activity was reported by Alabama, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi and South Carolina. Local influenza activity was reported by Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

Sporadic influenza activity was reported by Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Oklahoma leaders reported another death from the flu caused by the H1N1 virus.

State health officials said a young girl from Delaware County died late last month from the virus.

$
AP

source: Six more people died last week of H1N1 flu, bringing the death toll since the outbreak of the disease on April 28 last year to 218, the Public Health Ministry announced on Monday.

People are still dying from swine flu in England – even though the spread of the disease is limited, the chief medical officer said yesterday.

Some 11 deaths have been reported in the last fortnight, according to Professor Sir Liam Donaldson.

$
ENGLEMED

source: Another H1N1 virus case kills a man in the city of Batumi, Adjara Region. Mirza Gogitidze, 46, was undergoing medical treatment at teh City Republican Hospital for several days.

Doctors said, the man`s delayed hospitalization became the reason of deterioration of his health conditions. He was suffering from bilateral pneumonia. The patient was connected to the respiratory.