GENEVA (AP) — Nearly 5,000 people have been reported dead from swine flu since it emerged earlier this year and developed into a global epidemic, the World Health Organization said Friday.
WHO said there were 4,999 total deaths through Oct. 18, most of them in the Western Hemisphere. The figure was up 264 from a week earlier.
Iceland had its first swine flu death this week, and WHO said Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago also reported initial deaths from the virus this week.
In London, drug maker GlaxoSmithKline said children may only need one shot of its swine flu vaccine to be protected.
In a statement issued Friday, Glaxo said one dose was enough to boost children's immune systems to fight the virus, based on data from a trial in Spain in 200 children aged six months to 3 years.
Glaxo's finding is in contrast to experts' expectations that children would need two doses, since their immune systems are weaker than those of adults. Last week, rival vaccine maker Sanofi Aventis said children would likely need two doses of vaccine against swine flu, or H1N1.
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