CAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 24 (UPI) -- The deadly Fujian flu virus is sweeping South Africa, where it is expected to kill about 5,000 people, the Cape Argus reported Thursday.
The infection is suspected to have come into the country from the northern hemisphere, health authorities in Cape Town said.
"We have seen isolates in laboratories confirming that it is definitely Fujian flu," said Dr Stephen Toovey of Medinfo, a medical information service run by doctors.
Toovey said the estimate of 5,000 deaths was derived from statistics of the outbreak in the United States.
"But this is a conservative estimate. It could turn out to be a lot worse because of other factors: a lot of people here don't have easy access to sophisticated health care and because of the high HIV-prevalence," Toovey said.
Symptoms of the flu include fever, body aches and pains, lethargy, sore throat, a cough and headache.
