Swine flu death toll hits 140 in Iran

Iranian health authorities have announced that swine flu has already claimed the lives of 140 Iranians across the country.

"Some 3,672 individuals including 140 deaths have been tested positive for A/H1N1 virus in the country," IRNA quoted Mahmoud Soroush, the Director of the Health Ministry's Flu Program and Border Health Care as saying on Wednesday.

The Iranian health official advised Iranians to take simple precautionary measures such as hand washing to contain the virus.

Iran's Deputy Health Minister Hassan Emami-Razavi had earlier said that the government had allocated some $20 million to order two million doses of the A/H1N1 flu vaccine, enough to immunize one million individuals.

He had stressed that pregnant women, seniors and those suffering from chronic diseases including asthma, heart diseases, diabetes and cancer along with healthcare workers are among the first priorities to receive the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Iranian Health Minister Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi stressed on Wednesday that the first stock of the vaccine would be available in the country within the next 10 days.

She added that authorities had adopted all necessary precautionary measures to control the spread of the disease following the return of pilgrims from Hajj.

Vahid-Dastjerdi also announced that Iran had received a letter from the World Health Organization (WHO), congratulating the country as the only one adopting effective measures to contain the spread of the A/H1N1 virus.