The United States will provide 420,000 courses of antiviral medication Tamiflu to fight swine flu in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said Thursday.
"The US recognizes that a novel virus such as H1N1 is a burden borne by all nations, and all of us have a responsibility to help support one another in the face of this challenge," a statement from the DHHS quoted Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as saying at a meeting of health ministers in Mexico, where she announced the US move to help fight the A(H1N1) pandemic.
The announcement came as Argentina became the country hardest hit by swine flu, or A(H1N1), after the United States, Mexico and Canada.
According to statistics released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 170 people have died of swine flu in the United States and its territories Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
World Health Organization statistics show that 116 people have died of the new strain of H1N1 flu in Mexico, where the virus first surfaced at the end of April, and 25 in Canada.
On Wednesday, Argentina's new Health Minister Juan Manzur said at least 43 people had died in the South American country.
"Transmission of the virus within the region and throughout the Americas is a significant US health security concern because of the vast amount of travel and commerce in the hemisphere," the US health department said in a statement.
The DHHS currently holds some 50 million courses of antiviral medication in its strategic national stockpile.
