Swine flu outbreak

France have been hit by swine flu - and knee injuries - ahead of Sunday morning's (NZT) Four Nations rugby league match with New Zealand.

Blood oxygenation appears to be the key to surviving swine flu for patients suffering respiratory failure, new research shows.

New Zealand is among nine well-off countries who have agreed to share extra swine flu vaccine with less-developed countries.

When swine flu patient Terri Gordon-Davis (39) slipped into unconsciousness and was put on a ventilator to keep her alive, her husband was told she had a 25 per cent chance of surviving.

While swine flu has slipped off the radar for many of us, it is still having a severe impact on some people and continues to circulate in the community, health professionals say.

School officials in eastern China found responsible for a swine flu outbreak at a provincial high school that led to 109 students being infected will be severely punished, a local official says.

Swine flu has left a South Canterbury woman able to communicate only by blinking and with only half a lung functioning.

With spring just days away, the number of swine flu cases is on the way down, health officials say.

A woman who died in an Auckland hospital last week has been confirmed as New Zealand's 16th swine flu victim.

A 30-year-old woman died of swine flu in Dunedin Hospital on Sunday. The woman was admitted with flu-like symptoms on July 28 and did not have any pre-existing medical conditions before her admission.