Argentines give up tea-sharing as flu spreads
* Officials try to halt spread of deadly flu virus
* Sharing traditional tea and kissing branded as risky (Updates death toll)
By Karina Grazina
BUENOS AIRES, July 1 (Reuters) - An outbreak of the deadly H1N1 flu strain is leading some Argentines to change one of their favorite habits: sharing a steaming gourd of herbal tea with friends.
The flu, which first flared in Mexico but has since subsided there, is spreading in Argentina during the southern hemisphere winter, killing at least 43 people and forcing health officials to extend school vacations.
Some doctors are urging Argentines to refrain from communal drinking of the popular tea known as mate. Made from dried leaves, the tea is often sipped from a wooden gourd using a metal straw and passed around between friends.
Argentines frequently drink mate at work or at home.
"It's not very hygienic. If you're going to drink it, do it by yourself," Silvia Gonzalez Ayala, a doctor at the La Plata Children's Hospital, told local radio.
Some companies have included similar warnings in emailed guidelines to workers on ways to stay healthy during the height of the flu season.
Hoping to contain the virus, health authorities are also calling on Argentines to avoid public places like shopping centers and cinemas, but have not closed them.
Argentina's death toll ranks third behind Mexico and the United States, and Argentines are increasingly worried about the virus as peak flu season approaches.
The government has confirmed 1,587 cases of the virus and the new health minister said 43 or 44 people had died.
Some Argentines have also expressed concern about the government's handling of the outbreak. On Monday, the health minister resigned, and some media reported she faced opposition from the government to her proposals to combat the outbreak.
Health officials are also encouraging Argentines to change other habits, including greeting each other with a kiss on the cheek, a popular custom.
Argentina is one of the world's leading mate producers and most of the production is concentrated near the country's northeastern border with Paraguay and Brazil.
Also popular in Uruguay and southern Brazil, mate is made from a green leaf known as Ilex Paraguariensis. The social ritual of sipping it was first made popular by the Guarani Indians centuries ago in neighboring Paraguay.
Some Argentines said they were cutting back on group mates, although not given up drinking the tea itself.
"I'm still drinking it, but only with my husband," said a 37-year-old woman named Veronica. "If someone comes over, I'm going to diplomatically offer them a regular tea." (Writing by Kevin Gray, editing by Vicki Allen)
