Australia Confirms Melbourne Schoolboy as 14th Swine Flu Victim

By Candice Zachariahs, Bloomberg

Australia’s number of confirmed swine flu infections climbed to 14 with the diagnosis of a 15-year-old boy in Melbourne, a day after the government updated its pandemic alert to the third-highest level.

“We have seen deaths abroad, and therefore every effort by our public health authorities has been taken to avoid deaths at home,” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters in Sydney today. “We are acting directly and immediately in response to any further information or advice we receive from the health authorities.”

The Melbourne boy is the ninth swine flu victim in Victoria, Jason Frenkel, a spokesman for the southeastern state’s health minister, said today by telephone. Five cases have been confirmed elsewhere in Australia.

“Contain” is the third-highest level on a pandemic list on the government’s Web site. The next level, “sustain,” means the virus is established and spreading. An order for vaccines to protect the nation of 21 million people from the virus is “under active consideration,” Australia’s health department said in an e-mail yesterday.

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