Laboratory tests to confirm a second death reportedly attributed to swine flu in KwaZulu-Natal are still pending, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Wednesday afternoon.
NICD spokesperson Nombuso Tshabalala said the results should be available by early Thursday morning.
Earlier, NICD director Dr Lucille Blumberg said the institute had received a specimen from a patient who had died of pneumonia.
Swine flu — medically known as the H1N1 virus — was first recorded in South Africa in the middle of June and the country’s first recorded death was that of 22-year-old student Ruan Muller in Stellenbosch last week.
Also on Wednesday, pharmaceutical company Novartis announced that it had begun clinical trials of a vaccine in July.
According to the company’s website, Novartis has secured several orders for H1N1 vaccines and is in discussions with more than 35 governments.
Pending approval, it expects deliveries to global government customers to begin later this year and to continue in 2010.
Health Department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said there was no information available yet on whether the South African government also planned to place an order.
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) latest bulletin records that as of July 2009, 168 countries and overseas territories or communities had reported at least one laboratory confirmed case of the pandemic, with all continents affected.
As of July 31, there were 162 380 recorded cases, although this will have shifted given that Africa’s total for that date was 229, but the latest NICD figure for South Africa, supplied on August 3, was 480.
The WHO reported that 1 154 people had died as of that date.
The WHO noted that because it was no longer a requirement to report the virus, numbers might be understated.
Health specialists in South Africa have been at pains to emphasise that most people with the virus recover after a period of rest and that it is only the onset of complications such as respiratory infections that should prompt a visit to a doctor.
Many credit the widespread concern over the virus and the reported deaths to ”media hype”, explaining that ”normal seasonal flu” is far more widespread and can also lead to death.
While acknowledging that a spike in flu cases is normal during South Africa’s winter, specialists internationally have also noted that many of the people who have died of swine flu are young, ”otherwise healthy” people who would ordinarily have recovered from a flu virus.
Pregnant women, diabetics and people with lung problems are identified as being at a higher risk of complications.
The Health Department has advised people to seek medical attention should they develop any signs such as weakness, severe drowsiness, difficulty breathing, inability to drink fluids and dehydration. — Sapa