A main difference between swine flu and seasonal flu is that people over 60 appear to have some immunity to swine flu, while younger people seem not to. And because children and young adults are more likely to gather in groups — at school and colleges — they are more vulnerable to catching all types of flu. So while the disease does not appear to be more severe than seasonal flu, a disproportionate number of young people will probably get it.

As with seasonal flu, some people will get very sick and some of them will die. Federal health officials report that at least 36 children in the United States have died of swine flu; most had nervous system disorders like cerebral palsy or developmental delays. Some, however, had been healthy; they died of bacterial infections that set in after the flu. Doctors speculate that children with nerve and muscle disorders can’t cough hard enough to clear the airways, putting them at higher risk for complications.

Each year seasonal flu kills 50 to 100 children, and it’s too soon to know whether swine flu will turn out to be more deadly. Up to 40 percent of children contract regular seasonal flu, said Dr. Nathan Litman, director of pediatric infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York City, who added, “We almost expect that as soon as school is open we’ll start seeing increased numbers.”

According to the latest WHO report out Wednesday, the number of confirmed H1N1 (swine) flu deaths since its emergence in April has reached 1,799 - a jump from 1,462 deaths since the agency's last update, Agence France-Presse/the Australian reports. The WHO report also notes Ghana, Tuvalu and Zambia became the latest countries to confirm H1N1 cases for the first time, bringing the total number of countries with H1N1 to over 170 (8/20).

Also on Wednesday, the total number of deaths from H1N1 in Latin America rose above 1,300 - "more than 70 percent of the world's fatatlities" - after the country governments reported updates, the AFP reports in a separate story. "With vaccines against swine flu still more than a month away from being available -- and wealthy countries snapping up all available pre-orders from the big drug companies -- Latin American nations are looking at ignoring patents to produce their own," the news service writes, adding, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner on Tuesday appealed for pharmaceutical companies to "drop patent protection for their vaccines." "Given the laboratories' confession that they can't produce enough A(H1N1) flu vaccine for the whole world, the economic rights should be suspended to protect the health of mankind," Kirchner said (8/19).

Australian health officials announced Thursday they anticipate launching the country's H1N1 vaccination campaign in September, "in what may turn out to be the first such program since the emergence of the disease in April," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. According to Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon, the first of 2 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, manufactured by the Australian drug maker CSL will be released to the government Aug. 31, "but that safety tests from clinical trials are not yet complete," the news service writes. However, the government expects to receive an interim report from the ongoing H1N1 clinical trials next week, Roxon said.

"CSL recently notified the United States that its shipments would arrive later than promised because it first must provide batches to the Australian government," the news service adds. U.S. health officials predict the country's H1N1 vaccine campaign will start in mid-October (McGuirk, 8/20).

New Delhi: Swine flu cases in the country on Tuesday crossed the 3,000-mark with 186 more people, including 41 in the national capital, testing positive for the disease.

With the fresh cases, the total number of cases rose to 3,095.

While Delhi reported 41 cases, Maharashtra had 34 fresh cases followed by Karnataka (29), Gujarat (23), Kerala (16), Tamil Nadu (12), Uttar Pradesh (9), West Bengal (4), Assam (2), Chandigarh (1); Haryana (1), Chhattisgarh (1) and Madhya Pradesh (1).

Of the 186 new cases reported during the day, nine have a travel history of visits abroad while the rest are indigenous cases.

Uttar Pradesh had reported 49 new Lab confirmed cases on August 24 from samples collected from 8-17 August 2009.

Swine flu claims its third victim in Delhi

New Delhi: The national capital recorded its third death due to swine flu on Tuesday when a 44-year-old woman succumbed to the H1N1 virus, health authorities said.

According to N.K. Chaturvedi, the medical superintendent of the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, the woman died at 10.15 a.m. at the hospital.

`She was admitted to the hospital on Friday. She was in a serious condition and was on the ventilator,` Chaturvedi said.

Another swine flu death in Karnataka, toll climbs to 15

The woman, a resident of Faridabad, was first admitted to a private hospital, and was brought to the RML hospital in New Delhi when her condition deteriorated.

`She had fever, breathlessness, cold and cough,` he added.

Her samples were sent for testing and on Monday it was confirmed that she was infected with the H1N1 virus.

Special: Swine flu

With the woman's death, the total death toll has jumped to 65 in the country. On Monday, the country reported 137 fresh swine flu positive cases, pushing the total number of infected people to 2,909.