4-year-old girl becomes Israel's twelfth swine flu casualty

A four-year-old resident of the village of Umm al-Ganam died Friday after suffering from complications of swine flu.

The girl suffered from Osteopetrosis, a rare genetic bone disease that causes severely stiffened bones and could result in a failed immune system.

The girl was hospitalized on Tuesday with a high fever and shortness of breath, and was diagnosed with swine flu. She was treated with Tamiflu, an anti-viral flu-treatment drug, but despite resuscitation efforts, her condition deteriorated and she died Friday, making her the twelfth swine flu casualty in Israel so far.

The Health Ministry on Wednesday ordered all hospitals and clinics to increase their staff as of November 1 to cope with the expected spread of swine flu this winter.

Two weeks ago, ministry officials told a meeting of the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee that it expects between 700 and 1,000 Israelis to die of the H1N1 virus this winter, most of them children and pregnant women.