Australia warns Aborigines at high swine flu risk

By Neil Sands, AFP

Australia on Tuesday warned Aborigines may be at high risk from swine flu and rushed medical supplies to remote indigenous communities, as the country announced its second death linked to the virus.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said high disease rates among Aborigines, who suffer the country’s worst poverty and ill health, could make them particularly vulnerable.

“We know many of the chronic diseases that they suffer from are indicators that swine flu may actually hit them harder than some others in the community,” she told public radio.

A 26-year-old Aboriginal man with swine flu and other medical problems died in Adelaide on Friday, setting alarm bells ringing about the virus’s possible impact on the indigenous community.

On Tuesday, officials said a non-Aboriginal man, 35, who had swine flu and “significant underlying medical problems” had died in Victoria of apparent respiratory failure at the weekend.

Despite the country’s second swine flu-related death, Victoria’s acting chief health officer Rosemary Lester said the virus, which has infected 2,733 people here, was not considered life-threatening in most cases.

“It is important to remember that in the vast majority of cases, human swine flu is a mild illness which many people recover from without any medical treatment,” she said.

However, Health Minister Roxon said Aborigines may be a special case and authorities were working to boost their supplies of anti-viral drugs in the wake of the indigenous man’s death.

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