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South Africa Winter Raises World Cup Swine Flu Risk
"Everything is in our plans and we are confident that we deal with any public health and emergency medical situations that might arise during the tournament."
Seasonal flu sufferers accounted for 90 percent of cases at clinics set up for players and VIPs at the 2009 curtainraiser Confederations Cup, staged during the midst of the swine flu hype last June.
"If you're going to have a major event like the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it becomes critical that we prepare ourselves adequately both for seasonal flu and H1N1," said Ramathesele.
While several nations have scaled down controls due to waning infections, caseloads have risen in western Africa including Senegal and Mauritiana.
South Africa's private Netcare Travel Clinics has cautioned against complacency ahead of the Cup.
"The H1N1 virus could well make a big return to South Africa during our next flu season," said Pete Vincent.
"We will have a lot of people visiting the country over the period of the World Cup. Therefore, the conditions for a rapid spread of the virus will be good."
The National Institute of Communicable Diseases warns in its World Cup vistors guide that the H1N1 strain is expected to cause the majority of infections in 2010.
"There will be a lot -- we can expect that. You can't contain an outbreak of influenza," said the institute's Lucille Blumberg.
But the majority of cases will be mild, she said, with many northern hemisphere visitors likely to be immune to the strain as many would have been exposed to the virus last year.
"If you look back on it now, it (the 2009 outbreak) wasn't that different to a severe influenza season. I don't think we are going to see huge, huge problems."
Source-AFP
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