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August 16, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Toll From Madagascar Flu Epidemic Nears 400"

Reuters ( www.reuters.com ) (08/14/02)

Health officials in Madagascar announced Tuesday that an

influenza epidemic in the country has taken the lives of 399

people in three weeks, with over 5,600 others infected.  The

hardest hit provinces in the country--one of the poorest in the

world--are Fianarantsoa in the south and Toamasina on the east

coast of the island.  Testing has confirmed that the strain

involved in the epidemic is type A influenza.

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