S.Africa winter raises World Cup swine flu risk

SUN CITY, South Africa — The World Cup kicks off at the height of South Africa's winter, bringing in hundreds of thousands of visitors during peak flu season and raising concerns aboout a resurgence of swine flu.The H1N1 strain has killed nearly 16,000 people, proving less lethal than regular flu despite the global alarm.But health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said recently that a possible new swine flu flare-up was one of his "biggest nightmares" about the 2010 showcase to be played as night-time temperatures in several host cities dip toward freezing.Football body FIFA has advised the tournament's 32 teams to be vaccinated against the H1N1 strain, but has warned against panic."We are very carefully monitoring with the WHO and the health authorities in South Africa," Jiri Dvorak, FIFA's chief medical officer told AFP on the sidelines of a recent pre-tournament football medicine conference in the Sun City resort."We are really not worried about a special situation. We have to deal with the situation as it comes. Up to now, we have absolutely no indication that we should be worried."Despite accusations of inflating the swine flu threat, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday said it was too early to declare that the pandemic had peaked.Last year, 12,000 people caught swine flu in South Africa, with nearly 100 fatalities.South Africa's medical facilities -- which range from first-class private clinics to overstretched state hospitals -- will be beefed up by military health services during the June 11-July 11 tournament."Everything that we are doing is geared up to deal with any eventuality," Victor Ramathesele, general medical officer for South Africa's 2010 organising committee, told AFP."Everything is in our plans and we are confident that we deal with any public health and emergency medical situations that might arise during the tournament."Seasonal flu sufferers accounted for 90 percent of cases at clinics set up for players and VIPs at the 2009 curtainraiser Confederations Cup, staged during the

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