Global swine flu death toll tops 700

The H1N1 swine flu virus has killed more than 700 people across the world,the World Health Organisation has said.

Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, announced an increase in deaths of two-thirds from the previous figure of 429 and said that the swine flu pandemic will be the worst ever seen.

Despite the increase in deaths, most people experience only mild symptoms after contracting the virus. The majority of patients will recover within a week and don't require medical treatment.

Experts say that H1N1 has spread as widely in six weeks as previous pandemics have in over six months. An increase in international travel is thought to be the cause for this and the EU says that they expect to see a spike in cases as summer holiday travel begins.
EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vasiliou warned that "the anticipated arrival of seasonal flu in October, November, December, when added to the pandemic, is going to have an important effect on the acceleration of the spread of the virus, and a rise in the numbers of deaths,"

The WHO has said that as the virus is now so widespread it is unnecessary and pointless to document each case. However, they have warned that governments should monitor unusual patterns of disease spread. There have been 125,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 internationally but the true number of infected people is thought to be much higher.

A spokeswoman for WHO said that a range of measures to slow the virus' spread were being considered with advice from a team of experts in the spread of disease. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, of WHO, said that school measures may be recommended but ultimately each country's government would determine their own precautions.

Meanwhile in Australia, medical trails have begun on the H1N1 vaccine on volunteers in Adelaide. The full tests will take seven months to complete, however, preliminary results could allow the vaccine to be available for use by October. It is hoped that supplies of the jab will be produced in time for the flu season, when autumn arrives in the Northern Hemisphere.