A cold wave in South America and difficult access to clinics were Friday blamed for more than 80 deaths in Peru and Argentina, according to dpa. With temperatures below freezing, 52 children died in southern Peru, where access to health care for respiratory illness is difficult in the 3,000-metre Andes. In Argentina, below-freezing temperatures prompted residents to turn on defective heaters using gas, wood and kerosene. The toxic but odorless carbon monoxide fumes and other lethal gasses were blamed for many of the deaths. The deaths in Peru occurred between January and mid-May, the country's Health Ministry said Friday. The children are said to have died of pneumonia, and most of them may have survived if they had managed to get to regional health centres, according to the latest report of the ministry's epidemiology department. The worst-affected region is Puno, on the border with Bolivia, with 18 dead children and 391 cases of pneumon ia. Other affected regions are Huancavelica and Cusco, with a total of 20 children dead due to complications following respiratory infections, Junin, Ayacucho, Arequipa and Apurimac. In some of the Andean provinces temperatures were as low as minus 11 degrees Celsius. The National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (Senamhi) noted that perspectives for the next few weeks were not good. Below-zero temperatures are expected in 12 regions, with down to minus 27 degrees Celsius expected in some towns in Puno.
