From the news: Roundup and analysis.

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

70 Australians tested as swine flu crisis deepens - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

70 Australians tested as swine flu crisis deepens

The Federal Health Department says the number of Australians being tested for swine flu has jumped to 70.


A spokeswoman says the 70 have travelled to countries in the Americas affected by the outbreak and have reported flu-like symptoms.

But the World Health Organisation is not recommending travel restrictions or border closures as a result of the outbreak.

So far there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia; the results of swabs taken from the 70 Australian patients are likely to be known within 48 hours.

The virus is believed to have killed 152 people in Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak, with 20 deaths confirmed to be a result of the latest strain.

The number of confirmed cases in the United States jumped to 44, while Britain and Spain both said they had registered patients sick with swine flu, among almost 50 suspected and confirmed cases across Europe.

Three cases of the virus have been confirmed in New Zealand, a total of 10 are expected to return positive tests results, and there are 56 suspected cases.

In Asia, South Korea said it was investigating one suspected infection.

"It's a time for caution and concern, but not alarm," New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall said.

But WHO does not recommend travel restrictions or border closures as a result of the spreading swine flu outbreak, spokesman Gregory Hartl says.

"The WHO does not recommend any travel restrictions or border closures," he told a news conference in Geneva, noting that infected people may not show symptoms at the airport or when they reach a border crossing.

"Certainly if you feel that you are ill you should not travel, in any case, to anywhere."

The WHO's emergency committee will meet on Tuesday (Geneva time) to review the pandemic alert level, which was raised on Monday evening to level 4 from 3, on a 1-to-6 scale.

Air industry pain
The international air travel industry is bracing for further turbulence from the swine flu outbreak.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that the economic crisis could have wiped one-fifth off airline revenues in March alone as demand fell faster than carriers could cut capacity.

IATA also warned that the rising concern over the spread of swine flu could have "a significant impact" on air traffic.

IATA director-general Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement it was still too early to judge what impact swine flu would have "on the bottom line".

"But it is sure that anything that shakes the confidence of passengers has a negative impact on the business. And the timing could not be worse given all of the other economic problems airlines are facing," he said.

Mr Bisignani said the March dip compared to the same period last year showed that the economic crisis on its own was continuing to depress demand for international air travel.
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/28/2555273.htm">70 Australians tested as swine flu crisis deepens - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

USA. ?Many hundreds? of kids may have swine flu.

?Many hundreds? of kids may have swine flu

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also says two people are hospitalized

msnbc.com news services
updated 2:44 p.m. ET April 28, 2009

"Many hundreds" of schoolchildren are sick with suspected cases of swine flu, said New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.

​

Also Tuesday New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says two people are hospitalized with suspected swine flu. He said the hospitalizations are separate from the outbreak at a private school in Queens.
​

The mayor says the hospitalized are a child in the Bronx and an adult in Brooklyn.​

Health officials say the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States has jumped to 68.

The new count includes "at least five who had to go into the hospital," said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC officials had previously said there had been just one person hospitalized.

The cases are still only in the five states where they previously were reported. There are 17 new cases in New York City, four more in Texas and three additional cases in California.

That brings the total confirmed cases to 45 in New York City, 10 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio. State health officials in California have confirmed three other cases, and Indiana authorities have confirmed one.​

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency that will help California agencies coordinate efforts in response to the outbreak of swine flu.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office is investigating the recent deaths of two men for links to swine flu.​

Los Angeles Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey told the Los Angeles Times that a hospital in Bellflower reported the death of a 33-year-old Long Beach man who was brought in Saturday with symptoms resembling swine flu. The other death was a 45-year-old La Mirada man who died April 22 at a Norwalk hospital.​

Coroner's Capt. John Kades says the bodies are being tested but that there has been no confirmation the disease killed them. He offered no other details about the men.


For days, CDC officials have said they expected to see more confirmed cases ? and more severe illnesses. Health officials across the country have stepped up efforts to look for cases, especially among people with flu-like illness who had traveled to Mexico.


A handful of schools around the country have closed over swine flu fears and some people are wearing masks, but it?s mostly business as usual in the U.S., even at border crossings into Mexico.


While Asian countries deployed thermal sensors at airports to screen passengers from North America for signs of fever, there have been no extra screenings at the U.S. border with the country considered ground zero for the outbreak.


No deaths have been reported in the U.S. so far. In contrast, there have been over 150 deaths in neighboring Mexico, ground zero for the illness.


World health officials said they suspect American patients may have transmitted the virus to others in the U.S. Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said WHO was waiting for U.S. authorities to announce that a number of students at a New York high school have passed the virus on to one another after their return from a spring vacation in Mexico. ?I think we might have one other instance in the U.S.,? he said.


President Barack Obama on Monday characterized the U.S. cases as a cause for concern but not "a cause for alarm." The federal government said travel warnings for trips to Mexico would remain in place as long as swine flu is detected.


The Obama administration on Tuesday defended its "passive surveillance" policy to deal with the threat, saying that it's measured, cautious border monitoring makes sense.


Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that more draconian enforcement steps are not yet necessary, even as she acknowledged that officials "anticipate confirmed cases in more states." She reiterated President Barack Obama's stance that people are justifiably concerned but need not be alarmed by it.


"We anticipate that there will be confirmed cases in more states as we go through the coming days," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday.


Napolitano assured of a "very broad multi-agency federal response" and said that she and a number of Cabinet members had met into the night Monday to discuss strategy. She also the administration wouldn't wait for a World Health Organization declaration of a pandemic to deliver a pandemic-like response.


Noting that the international health body has elevated its pandemic alert status to Level 4 of a 6-step process, Napolitano said: "We're prepared as if there were a pandemic. We're not waiting."


Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday that this hybrid flu ? with pig, bird and human genetic components ? has "pandemic potential."


"This is a brand new virus that we've never seen before," he said. " But what we're focusing on is to contain the spread of this."

While the virus has killed people in Mexico, but so far, not in the U.S., it's too soon to say that it won't, said the CDC's Schuchat.


"I think we're at early days here at what we're seeing in the U.S.," she said. "I don't think we can be confident we won't see severe spectrum of disease here."


In the immediate future, cases may begin to level off and dwindle, but then return during the tradition flu season in the fall and winter, as the 1918 flu did, Schuchat said.


"We might see an improvement just like we do with the seasonal flu but we need to be aware this strain is out there and it might come back in the fall," she said. "We're preparing the country for a period of uncertainty and a commitment that we'll stay with you."


Scattered protective steps
Scattered protective steps were being taken across the U.S. A few schools were closed ? in Cibolo and New Braunfels, Texas; Claremont and Mira Mesa, Calif.; and Columbia, S.C. ? and residents of Guadalupe County, outside San Antonio, were asked to avoid public gatherings and stay home if they are ill.


Security guards at all entrances of the University of Chicago Medical Center required anyone walking in to use a liquid disinfectant. At Rush University Medical Center, anyone seeking treatment for fever, runny nose and coughs was being tested for flu with nasal swabs.


Elsewhere, there were signs of growing unease among the public, even in places where there was no immediately known cause for alarm.


Pharmacies in Manhattan reported that paper face masks were selling by the box. One pharmacy owner said he had to order more from his wholesale supplier for the first time since the SARS epidemic six years ago.


Students at a Chicago school were instructed not to shake hands with anyone, and Southern Illinois University urged students to wash their hands frequently and cover their mouths when coughing. There were no known swine flu cases in Illinois.


And in New Mexico, which also had no reported cases, health officials were so besieged by calls from concerned citizens that they set up a swine flu hot line.


Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said his agency was looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.


The government also issued an advisory warning travelers to cancel any nonessential visits to Mexico. It also took issue with a European Union health official who said the same thing about travel to parts of the U.S.


At the White House, a swine flu update, delivered by White House homeland security adviser John Brennan, was added to the president's daily intelligence briefing.


FDA issues emergency flu drug rules
The Food and Drug Administration issued emergency guidance late Monday that allows certain antiviral drugs to be used in a broader range of the population in case mass dosing is needed to deal with a widespread swine flu outbreak.


The agency originally approved the use of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for the prevention and treatment of influenza in adults and children age 1 and older. Another antiviral drug, Relenza, was originally approved to treat people 7 and older and to help prevent flu in those 5 and older.


The White House also aimed to sidestep a potentially problematic diplomatic headache. Press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to discuss whether Obama officials have any concern about when Mexico notified the U.S. of the outbreak ? particularly significant given the president's trip to Mexico on April 16 and 17.


The White House said Monday that its medical unit asked if Mexican health officials and U.S. Embassy medical staff had any concerns about infectious disease and were told they did not. But a White House statement said, "We have no reason to believe they withheld any information they had at the time."

-
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30453688/
------

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - FACTBOX-Country by country spread of new flu strain

FACTBOX-Country by country spread of new flu strain

28 Apr 2009 19:20:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
April 28 (Reuters) -

New Zealand and Israel became the latest countries on Tuesday to be hit by the new strain of swine flu that has caused fatalities in Mexico and also spread to the United States, Europe and the Middle East.


Here are the current totals of cases and deaths:

COUNTRY / DEATHS / CONFIRMED CASES / SUSPECTED CASES

• MEXICO / 149 / 26 / 1,995 *
• U.S. / 0 / 65 / 0 **
• CANADA / 0 / 13 / 0
• NEW ZEALAND / 0 / 3 / 8
• SPAIN / 0 / 2 / 32
• ISRAEL / 0 / 2 / 1
• BRITAIN / 0 / 2 / 0
• AUSTRALIA / 0 / 0 / 89
• BRAZIL / 0 / 0 / 20
• FRANCE / 0 / 0 / 20
• CHILE / 0 / 0 / 13
• DENMARK / 0 / 0 / 11
• SWITZERLAND / 0 / 0 / 9
• AUSTRIA / 0 / 0 / 5
• COLOMBIA / 0 / 0 / 4
• GERMANY / 0 / 0 / 3
• NORWAY / 0 / 0 / 1
• SOUTH KOREA / 0 / 0 / 1
• GUATEMALA / 0 / 0 / 1

NOTES:
* Mexico's death toll figure is for deaths that authorities in that country suspect were caused by swine flu. The country's figure for confirmed cases of the disease is the figure given to date by the World Health Organization. The number of suspected cases has been given by the Mexican Health Ministry.
** The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has reported 64 confirmed cases. Authorities in Indiana have reported one additional case.

Sources: Reuters/WHO/CDC/www.hpa.org.uk (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Frances Kerry)
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28340563.htm">Reuters AlertNet - FACTBOX-Country by country spread of new flu strain</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Cuba suspends Mexico flights due to swine flu

Cuba suspends Mexico flights due to swine flu

28 Apr 2009 19:27:49 GMT
Source: Reuters

* Cuba halts Mexico flights for 48 hours due to swine flu
* Cuba has no confirmed swine flu cases

(Adds details, background)

HAVANA, April 28 (Reuters) -

The Cuban government on Tuesday suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours as it tried to prevent Mexico's deadly outbreak of swine flu from reaching the Caribbean island.


The Ministry of Public Health said the flight suspension applied in all but "exceptional cases" and that it was prepared to apply tighter restrictions if necessary.

Cuba has said it has no confirmed cases of the new strain of flu, which is blamed in the deaths of 149 people in Mexico, the epicenter of what health officials fear could become a world pandemic. [nLS803449]

There usually are at least five scheduled flights daily between Cuba and Mexico, which are separated by the 115-mile-wide (185-km-wide) Yucatan Channel. Mexicana Airlines and state-run Cubana Airlines fly between Havana and Mexico City and Havana and the Mexican beach resort of Cancun.

In recent years Cuba has become a popular tourist destination, receiving 2.3 million tourists from around the world in 2008.

The communist-run island prides itself on its free healthcare system and the government often intervenes aggressively to keep people safe during natural disasters such as hurricanes. The health ministry, in a statement read on state-run television, said it had ordered local officials to step up vigilance of health and sanitary measures in the face of swine flu.

Cuban officials have said medical teams are questioning passengers arriving on flights from Mexico and checking back with them during their visit to Cuba to see if they show signs of illness.

Medical personnel throughout the island are being briefed on what to look for and how to deal with any cases of swine flu they find. Pigs are being monitored for symptoms, although humans are the only known victims of the infection.

The government advised Cubans to wash their hands frequently and to cover the mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing to help limit the spread of germs.

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; Editing by Frances Kerry)
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28333104.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Cuba suspends Mexico flights due to swine flu</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

CTV.ca | 'Hundreds' of NYC children may have swine flu

'Hundreds' of NYC children may have swine flu

Updated Tue. Apr. 28 2009 3:36 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

''Many hundreds" of schoolchildren in New York City are sick with what officials suspect is swine flu while two more people are in hospital under the suspicion that they have the virus.


New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden confirmed the illnesses among the children on Tuesday, while Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that two people, a child in the Bronx and an adult in Brooklyn, were in hospital.

Bloomberg said the hospitalizations were separate from the suspected outbreak among the schoolchildren.

Bloomberg also said that authorities are investigating potential cases at a special education school in Queens.

At the same time, authorities in California said they are investigating two deaths for links to the virus.


A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Coroner's office told the Los Angeles Times that a 33-year-old man died at a hospital in Bellflower after he was brought there Saturday with swine flu-like symptoms.

His body is being tested for the virus, as is that of a 45-year old man from La Mirada, Calif., after he died on April 22 at a hospital in Norwalk.

The suspected infections added to an ever-growing number of cases around the world Tuesday as officials waited to hear if the virus is beginning to spread in a sustained way from person-to-person.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday it was waiting to hear formal confirmation from U.S. health officials about how the disease was spreading in that country.

"It appears, and I think we're still awaiting for a final confirmation from the U.S. authorities, but it appears that there's a number of cases in New York which appear to be human-to-human transmission," WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl told a news briefing.

Hartl said such secondary transmission of the virus was "probable."

He also said if the U.S. or Canada does make such a confirmation then the WHO could raise the alert level from phase 4 to phase 5 (out of 6).

At a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, officials with the Centers for Disease Control said that five people in the U.S. are hospitalized with swine flu and that deaths from the virus are likely.


"I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection," as cases are investigated, said Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC.

Three patients are hospitalized in California and two are in hospital in Texas, Besser said.

The U.S. now has 64 confirmed cases in five states: 45 in New York, one in Ohio, two in Kansas, six in Texas and 10 in California.

By Tuesday afternoon, the number of swine flu cases in Canada had reached 13.

On Tuesday, New Zealand confirmed that 11 people who recently came back from Mexico had contracted the virus.

New Zealand Public Health Director Mark Jacobs said those infected had only suffered "mild illness" and were expected to recover.

Officials are dealing with 43 more suspected cases in the country.

Meanwhile, Israel's Health Ministry confirmed one case of swine flu Tuesday in the city of Netanya.

The victim, 26, recently returned from a trip to Mexico, Health Ministry spokeswoman Einav Shimron said.

Officials said the man has already recovered but is being kept in hospital until the Health Ministry decides he can leave.

In Mexico, where the virus was first reported, 152 people are suspected to have died from swine flu.

"Certainly, there is an epidemic here of fear and frustration in addition to the very real fear you see everywhere here of the swine flu itself," CTV's Tom Walters reported Tuesday from Mexico City.

Walters said many Mexicans feel the government is not doing enough to respond to the situation by making medicine and masks available.

Outside Mexico, no deaths from swine flu have been confirmed.

Daniel Epstein, a spokesman for the Pan American Health Organization, said Tuesday that it's unclear why only Mexicans have died so far.

"We are looking into it, it's a very perplexing situation," Epstein told CTV Newsnet.

As swine flu spreads, authorities are focusing less on trying to contain the virus.

"Containment is very difficult now if not impossible so there are measures we can take to mitigate," World Health Organization spokesman Paul Garwood told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.

Swine flu, also known as A H1N1, is normally contracted through contact with pigs.

However, this strain is spread through human-to-human contact.

Symptoms include fever, muscle and joint pain, cough, sore throat, eye pain, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue.

With files from The Associated Press
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090428/swine_cases_090428/20090428?hub=TopStories">CTV.ca | 'Hundreds' of NYC children may have swine flu</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

FOXNews.com - Los Angeles Officials Probe Two Possible Swine Flu Deaths - Infectious Disease

Los Angeles Officials Probe Two Possible Swine Flu Deaths

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Los Angeles County coroner's office is investigating two recent deaths for links to swine flu.


Coroner's Capt. John Kades says tests are being run on two bodies to see if swine flu was a factor in their deaths, but there is no confirmation that the disease killed them.

The Los Angeles Times reports on its Web site that both men's deaths were reported to the coroner's office on Monday.

Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey told the paper that a Bellflower hospital reported the death of a 33-year-old Long Beach man who was brought in Saturday with symptoms resembling swine flu.


The other death was a 45-year-old La Mirada man who died April 22 at a Norwalk hospital.


Meanwhile, several hundred students have fallen ill at the New York school hit by a swine flu outbreak, city officials said Tuesday as the number of confirmed cases in the United States rose to 68, with at least seven people hospitalized.

"I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection," as swine flu cases are investigated, said Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The World Heath Organization has now confirmed person-to-person transmission of the swine flu virus in the United States.

The WHO said some students in New York City infected with swine flu had not traveled to Mexico and must have contracted the disease from classmates who had recently returned from a trip to the country.

That is significant because it suggests the swine flu virus that is suspected in dozens of deaths in Mexico is now strong enough to be passed among people in other countries, raising the likelihood of a flu pandemic.

There had been suspicions that the diseases was being passed from human to human outside of Mexico, but this is the first confirmation.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. is believed to be 68. The CDC has teams of investigators "on the ground" in California and New York.

A CDC official told a Senate panel that includes five hospitalizations, up from one hospitalization the day before.


The state of Indiana is reporting a new confirmed case, but Indiana's health commissioner said the infected person was "doing well."


In addition to 28 confirmed swine flu cases in New York City, health officials say they're also investigating a possible cluster of swine flu cases at a special education school in Queens.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday there are five new suspected cases; one of which is related to the Queens high school outbreak and two more under investigation.

There is a 2-year-old boy in the Bronx in the hospital and is recovering, Bloomberg said, and he has an older brother who also exhibited flu symptoms, but tests for the flu are not complete.


Orlando may have a case swine flu.

Chief medical officer for Adventist Health System, Loran Hauck, told WFTV-Orlando the case was diagnosed Tuesday morning.

"A case was diagnosed here in Orlando today on a tourist from Mexico who came to Disney attractions two days ago to visit," Hauck wrote in an email obtained by Eyewitness News WFTV.

The CDC and state health officials have not confirmed the Orlando case.

Officials from New Jersey, South Carolina and North Carolina say those states have "suspected" cases. Michigan has a second suspected case of swine flu.

Dr. Nancy Cox of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States happened on March 28. Cordova said a sample taken from a 4-year-old boy in Mexico's Veracruz state in early April tested positive for swine flu. However, it is not known when the boy, who later recovered, became infected.


Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.

Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States. The CDC estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.

Besser said that so far the virus in the United States seems less severe than in Mexico. Only one person has been hospitalized in the U.S.

"I wouldn't be overly reassured by that," Besser told reporters at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, sounding a cautionary note.

World health officials raised a global alert to an unprecedented level as swine flu was blamed for more deaths in Mexico and the epidemic crossed new borders, with the first cases confirmed Tuesday in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.

The WHO raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it has ever been raised above Phase 3.Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

In addition to closing schools, museums and other businesses to curb the outbreak of swine flu, Mexican officials Tuesday ordered restaurants in its capital city to serve only take out food in a widening swine flu shutdown.

With the swine flu having already spread to at least six other countries, authorities around the globe are like firefighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.

Canadian health officials on Tuesday confirmed two more mild cases of swine flu, bringing the country's total to eight, and warned against traveling to Mexico.

Alberta Chief Medical Officer Dr. Andre Corriveau said the western province has confirmed cases in two people who contracted the illness during recent travel to Mexico.

Neither man was hospitalized. One no longer has symptoms, while the other has made almost a full recovery.

Corriveau said none of the Canadian cases, including two cases in Nova Scotia and four in British Columbia, are severe. All of those infected have recovered.

New Zealand confirmed that 11 people who recently returned from Mexico contracted the virus, Health Minister Tony Ryall said. Laboratory tests on samples from three of the 11 came back positive and "on that basis we are assuming" the eight others are also infected, he said.

Those infected had suffered only "mild illness" and were expected to recover, Public Health Director Mark Jacobs said.

Israel and Spain have both confirmed two cases of swine flu.

With the virus spreading, the U.S. prepared for the worst even as President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans.

At the White House, a swine flu update was added to Obama's daily intelligence briefing. Obama said the outbreak is "not a cause for alarm," even as the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.

"We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.

The European Union has no plan to restrict imports of meat, pork products or livestock from the United States because of the swine flu outbreak, the EU's executive arm said on Tuesday.

"We have no plans to ban any meat, pork or food products from the U.S. since there is no connection between food and the flu at present and such a move would be unjust," a European Commission official told Reuters.

Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by 50 percent on Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. But Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova late Monday said no one knows where the outbreak began, and implied it may have started in the U.S.

"I think it is very risky to say, or want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there had already been cases reported in southern California and Texas," Cordova told a press conference.

It's still not clear when the first case occurred, making it impossible thus far to determine where the breakout started.

Including the New Zealand, Israeli and new Spanish reports, there were 81 confirmed cases worldwide, not including Mexico, on Tuesday. That included eight in Canada, one in Spain, two in Israel and two in Scotland.

Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases ? but not all cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.

In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled school nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation. The Cinco de Mayo parade celebrating Mexico's defeat of a French army on May 5, 1862 and Mexico City's traditional May 1 parade were canceled. More than 100 museums nationwide were closed.

At Mexico City's international airport, families grimly waited for flights out of the capital or country, determined to keep their masks on until they touched ground somewhere else.

Three games involving Mexico City soccer clubs were played with no spectators over the weekend. Decio de Maria, secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said plans for future matches would be announced on Wednesday.

"The idea is to look for the fewest number of games that have to be played behind closed doors," he said. "If it's necessary, we'll play all the matches behind closed doors. We don't foresee canceling any games."

Many residents of Mexico City wore blue surgical masks, though the CDC said most masks offer little protection. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s ? not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.

It could take four to six months before the first batch of vaccines are available, WHO officials said. Some antiflu drugs do work once someone is sick.

Napolitano, the U.S. Homeland Security chief, said Washington is dispatching people and equipment to affected areas and stepping up information-sharing at all levels of government and with other nations.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

Governments in Asia ? with memories of previous flu outbreaks ? were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening.

Teams of doctors, nurses and government officials boarded flights arriving in Japan from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada to check passengers for signs of the flu, Japanese Health Ministry official Akimori Mizuguchi said.

World stock markets fell Tuesday as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.

Treating Swine Flu
Besser said Monday people can best protect themselves against the swine flu threat by taking precautions they were taught as kids, like frequently washing their hands and covering their mouths when coughing.

He said there is no reason for Americans to begin wearing face masks as residents of some Mexican states are now doing.

There is no vaccine available to prevent the new swine flu. However, there are antiflu drugs that do work once someone is sick.

Bresser said the government is still deciding whether to order that a swine flu vaccine be produced. He said vaccine manufacture takes a long time and would interrupt ongoing work to create next winter's regular flu shot.

But if a vaccine eventually is ordered, the CDC already has taken a key preliminary step ? creating what's called seed stock of the virus that manufacturers would use.

The virus appears responsive to the antiviral drugs, like Tamiflu and Relenza, which can be used to reduce the severity of the flu if used within two days of the appearance of symptoms.

Dr. Robert A. Salata, chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told FOXNews.com that the fact that the severity of the virus can be weakened by antiviral drugs is encouraging.

"This past flu season, all of the influenza type A viruses like this one, were resistant to Tamiflu," said Salata, who is also a professor at Case Western Reserve University. "These viruses appear to be sensitive to all four antiviral drugs on the market."

Roughly 12 million doses of Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

Salata said people should be cautious, but not panic.

"It?s our responsibility to educate people on what they?re risks are and to encourage them to try to take measures to prevent the spread of the disease," he said. "Certainly people should stay away from people who are know to be ill, practice good hand hygene, as well as good cough and sneeze etiquette."

Drugmaker Baxter International Inc. has requested the swine flu virus sample from the World Health Organization so that it can research the virus and then develop a vaccine in what the company spokesperson said is half the time, approximately 13 weeks, of normal manufacturing, which is usually 26 weeks. Baxter specializes in research and development in emerging vaccines.
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518196,00.html">FOXNews.com - Los Angeles Officials Probe Two Possible Swine Flu Deaths - Infectious Disease</cite>

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: List of Countries with Confirmed Human A/H1N1 Swine Flu

Re: List of Countries with Confirmed Human A/H1N1 Swine Flu

via email -


Swine Influenza Cases Confirmed by UN Health Agency (Table)
2009-04-28 22:49:16.410 GMT


By Marco Babic
April 29 (Bloomberg) -- The following table lists the cumulative
number of laboratory-confirmed human cases of the A/H1N1 strain of
swine influenza as reported to the Geneva-based World Health
Organization. Total cases are current as of April 28, 2009.
*T
==============================================================================
April 28 April 27 April 26
2009 2009 2009
==============================================================================
----------------------- Confirmed Cases -----------------------
Cases, Total 105 73 38
United States 64 40 20
Mexico 26 26 18
New Zealand 3 0 0
Spain 2 1 0
Canada 6 6 0
UK 2 0 0
Israel 2 0 0

==============================================================================
April 28 April 27 April 26
2009 2009 2009
==============================================================================
----------------------- Confirmed Deaths ----------------------
Deaths, Total 7 7 0
United States 0 0 0
Mexico 7 7 0
New Zealand 0 0 0
Spain 0 0 0
Canada 0 0 0
UK 0 0 0
Israel 0 0 0
==============================================================================
*T
Source: World Health Organization

For related news:
To Graph the total number of Swine flu cases: H1N1TOTC <Index> GP <GO>
To Graph the total number of Swine flu deaths: H1N2TOTD <Index> GP <GO>
For related tickers: ALLX H1N1 <GO>
For related stories, see EXT3 <GO>
For stories on health: NI HEA <GO>
For stories on human influenza: NI FLU <GO>

--Editor: Marco Babic

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

CIDRAP >> Senate hearing raises pandemic readiness, funding issues

Senate hearing raises pandemic readiness, funding issues

Lisa Schnirring and Robert Roos * Staff Writers
Apr 28, 2009 (CIDRAP News) ?

At an emergency hearing today of the Senate appropriations committee, Sen Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the Obama administration will ask for $1.5 billion to fight the swine influenza epidemic, as committee members sought to get a handle on the elements and cost estimates of the public health response.


Previous federal investments in pandemic planning appear to be paying off, but Harkin said he was disappointed that legislators cut an $870 million program to accelerate cell-based influenza vaccine capacity from the economic stimulus bill a few months ago. "I will push to include it in supplemental funding later this month," he said.


Steps toward a vaccine

During the hearing, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told legislators that federal officials are aggressively pursuing a vaccine against swine flu. "The bell has rung, and it's moving along."

With current vaccine production methods, it will take manufacturers about 8 weeks to conduct dosing, safety, and efficacy testing on pilot batches from a swine flu seed strain that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is producing, he said. Then it would take 4 to 6 more months for the first vaccine batches to roll off the production line, though he said some of the production steps can take place simultaneously during the pilot-testing phase.

Fauci said discussion is under way among federal health experts on whether to produce a single vaccine specifically against the swine flu strain or to include it along with the other three strains in the seasonal flu vaccine.

In the meantime, Anne Schuchat, MD, interim deputy director for the CDC's science and public health program, said antiviral medications are already on their way to states that have been affected by swine flu and that the rest of the states should receive their supplies by May 3.


Scarce resources threaten response

Harkin asked the health officials if they had enough staffing and financial resources to distribute the antivirals and perform other key flu epidemic response functions.

Paul Jarris, MD, MBA, executive director if the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) said that, as of August 2008, every state has developed and practiced a pandemic plan and all have now activated their plans, which include systems for distributing antivirals.

However, he said funding for the activities expired in August 2008. "We're at a point of critical need, because there's been no further investment," Jarris said, adding that the cuts have been compounded by declines in preparedness money from the CDC and reduced hospital preparedness funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

State budget problems have led to 12,000 public health department layoffs in 2008, with the same level of attrition expected this year.

If a vaccine against the flu strain is developed, "you still need the [public health] people to put it into people's arms," Jarris said.

Harkin responded, "I remain deeply concerned about the ability to rapidly respond to a growing pandemic."

Jarris estimated that the nation's public health systems need $350 million to continue their pandemic planning work, but will need more if the epidemic becomes a full-blown pandemic. In addition, health departments need $122 million to finish stocking state stockpiles and $563 million to equip healthcare workers with protective equipment and antiviral medication.


Ag sector chafes at virus name

John Clifford, DVM, deputy director of veterinary services for the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Animal and Plant Inspection Services told legislators that the department is evaluating its resource needs. The USDA is working with states to intensify livestock surveillance for the virus, but so far the new strain has not been found in animals.

The biggest problem the agency faces revolves around the "swine flu" label that has been placed on the new virus, Clifford said. He said the nomenclature is scientifically incorrect and has prompted other countries to ban US pork products, which is already hurting farmers and feed producers.

USDA officials are working with international trading partners to make sure they're basing their decisions on clearing or blocking US pork on reasonable scientific standards, Clifford said. However, some countries seem to be basing their decisions on a reaction to the name of the virus.Yesterday the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) emphasized in a statement that the new virus has not been isolated in animals and that calling the virus "swine flu" is not justified. It said names of past human influenza epidemics with animal origins have used a geographic name, such as Spanish influenza. "Thus it would be logical to call this disease ?North-American influenza," the group said.

At a CDC press conference today, Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said, "We've been seeing a fair amount of misconception that by calling it swine flu, there could be transmission from pork products." The name refers to one of the components of the new flu strain, but doesn't allude to how the virus spreads. He said officials are discussing if there's a better way to describe the virus that wouldn't confuse the public.

At a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing this morning, Keiji Fukuda, MD, the agency's assistant director-general for health, security, and environment, said the WHO hasn't made any plans to change the name of the virus. "We hope the introduction of new names doesn't cause any confusion," he said.


Harkin presses CDC on lab delay report

Harkin questioned Schuchat about media reports that Mexico sent its influenza samples to Canada early on in the outbreak to avoid what it perceived as paperwork obstacles at the CDC that might have delayed characterization of the new virus. He said the event may have left US officials in the dark during a crucial time when the virus was becoming a bigger threat.

"We have spent a lot of money building lab capacity. Why did this happen?" he asked.

Schuchat said the CDC is one of four WHO reference labs and regularly receives samples from Mexico. She said on Apr 17 CDC scientists identified the unusual virus that was isolated in San Diego and distributed sequence information to other scientists.

Four days later the CDC published a report on two cases involving the new strain in a special issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), and on Apr 23 the agency conducted a press briefing on the identification of additional cases.

Schuchat pointed out that the CDC's identification of and communication about the virus led the Canadian lab to link their Mexican samples to the US isolates.

"We don't like it when people find our bureaucracy difficult. I would like to do better, but I'm proud of our staff for getting the report out quickly," Schuchat said.
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/apr2809hearing-jw.html">CIDRAP >> Senate hearing raises pandemic readiness, funding issues</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

CIDRAP >> CDC says new virus spreading beyond travelers

CDC says new virus spreading beyond travelers

Robert Roos * News Editor
Apr 28, 2009 (CIDRAP News) ?

As the official count of US swine influenza cases rose to 64 today, top federal health officials said it's becoming increasingly clear that the virus is spreading beyond people who recently traveled to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.

"The information we're seeing from states and locals . . . is that this appears to be acting like a normal flu virus, which has a fairly high rate of transmission in families," Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at a news briefing this afternoon. He said investigators are finding respiratory and flu-like illnesses in family members of case-patients.

Besser said the only confirmed case of person-to-person transmission in the United States so far is in the two Kansas cases, which officials have said involved a husband and wife. But he said that probably only reflects the limited extent of testing, adding, "I expect we are seeing transmission within families."

Later he commented that while travel history is an important diagnostic clue in people who have a flu-like illness, "I wouldn't limit it to that, because it's really [in] a minority of cases to date that we've identified that travel history."

The signs of ongoing transmission seem to fit with the World Health Organization's (WHO's) move yesterday to raise the pandemic alert level to phase 4, which means a new flu virus can spread efficiently enough to cause sustained community outbreaks.

This morning the CDC raised its case count to 64, from 40 as of yesterday, including 45 cases in New York, 10 in California, 6 in Texas, 2 in Kansas, and 1 in Ohio. Besser said five patients have been hospitalized?three in California and two in New York?but provided no details on their illnesses.

The Associated Press reported this afternoon that "several hundred" students who attend a New York City Catholic school that has been hit by swine flu are sick.

Besser reported that the latest illness onset date in a confirmed swine flu case is Apr 24, but that doesn't mean there has been no transmission since then.

"We're asking that if you are a confirmed case not only that you stay home, but that the rest of your family stay home as well," to limit the virus's spread, he said.


States all want supplies

In other comments, Besser reported that all states have now requested their shares of antiviral drugs and personal protective equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile, and the CDC is working to fulfill the requests. He called the requests "a forward-leaning step," since most states don't have any cases yet.

In response to a question, he said the CDC has not yet identified anything that distinguishes swine flu from seasonal flu, aside from the possible clue of a travel history. He said it was an advantage that the new virus did not emerge in the middle of the regular flu season.

"If this outbreak had occurred in January or February it would've been very difficult to detect because of all the flu activity going on," he said.

On vaccine issues, Besser called the possibility of adding a swine flu antigen to the seasonal flu vaccine "an attractive approach" in that one vaccine could protect against seasonal and swine flu infections. "We do know that seasonal flu vaccine production is moving forward, and we don't want to delay that, but that is under consideration," he added.

The other possibility is to make a monovalent vaccine, containing just the swine flu strain, he noted.

The CDC previously said it was developing a seed strain of swine flu virus for companies to use in making a vaccine. Besser said the seed strain has not yet been sent to the manufacturers.

He also reported that the incubation period in US swine flu cases appears to range from 2 to 7 days, which he termed typical for flu.

Earlier in the day, Dr. Keiji Fukuda of the WHO emphasized?as he did yesterday?that the swine flu represents "a serious situation" but that a pandemic is not yet inevitable. "We really are in a period in which countries should take this opportunity to really prepare themselves for the possibility of a pandemic," especially countries not yet dealing with cases, he said.

He said that as of today the WHO officially counted 79 cases, including 40 in the United States (the number reported yesterday), 26 in Mexico, 6 in Canada, 3 in New Zealand, 2 in Spain, and 2 in the United Kingdom.

Later today, the WHO in an online statement reported that Israel has confirmed 2 cases. The numbers are confirmed cases reported by governments.

Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director-general for health security and the environment, stressed how much remains unknown about the new virus, including where it originated and why severe cases seem to be confined to Mexico.

"We still do not have a good explanation for why the pattern of cases in other countries appears relatively mild while the pattern in Mexico appears to be much more severe," he said. Besser said much the same in the CDC briefing.

When asked about reports that the virus might have originated in Mexico's Vera Cruz state, Fukuda said, "I think right now it's not possible to really know where this virus originated." He added that the swine flu isolates that have been analyzed have been very similar, suggesting that the virus emerged recently and has not been around long enough to branch into many variants.

Fukuda cautioned that even if swine flu activity subsides sometime soon, it will be at least several months before experts can conclude that a pandemic won't happen. "It's very hard to know when something like this disappears. I don't think we'll be able to conclude that in the next few weeks."

He also warned not to forget how the great pandemic of 1918-19 unfolded. "It also started out as a relatively mild spread of illness that really wasn't much noted in most places, but then it became a very severe pandemic in the fall," he said.

See also:
CDC swine flu page http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
Apr 28 WHO update http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_28/en/index.html
WHO swine flu page http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/apr2809briefings.html">CIDRAP >> CDC says new virus spreading beyond travelers</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Simon Jenkins: Swine flu? A panic stoked in order to posture and spend | Comment is free | The Guardian

Swine flu? A panic stoked in order to posture and spend

Despite the hysteria, the risk to Britons' health is tiny - but that news won't sell papers or drugs, or justify the WHO's budget

Simon Jenkins
The Guardian, Wednesday 29 April 2009

We have gone demented. Two Britons are or were (not very) ill from flu. "This could really explode," intones a reporter for BBC News. "London warned: it's here," cries the Evening Standard. Fear is said to be spreading "like a Mexican wave". It "could affect" three-quarters of a million Britons. It "could cost" three trillion dollars. The "danger", according to the radio, is that workers who are not ill will be "worried" (perhaps by the reporter) and fail to turn up at power stations and hospitals.


Appropriately panicked, on Monday ministers plunged into their Cobra bunker beneath Whitehall to prepare for the worst. Had Tony Blair been about they would have worn germ warfare suits. British government is barking mad.

What is swine flu? It is flu, a mutation of the H1N1 virus of the sort that often occurs. It is not a pandemic, despite the media prefix, not yet. The BBC calls it a "potentially terrible virus", but any viral infection is potentially terrible. Flu makes you feel ill. You should take medicine and rest. You will then get well again, unless you are very unlucky or have some complicating condition. It is best to avoid close contact with other people, as applies to a common cold.

In Mexico, 2,000 people have been diagnosed as suffering swine flu. Some 150 of them have died, though there is said to be no pathological indication of all these deaths being linked to the new flu strain. People die all the time after catching flu, especially if not medicated.

Nobody anywhere else in the world has died from this infection and only a handful have the new strain confirmed, most in America and almost all after returning from Mexico. A couple from Airdrie who caught the flu on holiday in Cancun are getting better. That tends to happen to people who get flu, however much it may disappoint editors.

We appear to have lost all ability to judge risk. The cause may lie in the national curriculum, the decline of "news" or the rise of blogs and concomitant, unmediated hysteria, but people seem helpless in navigating the gulf that separates public information from their daily round. They cannot set a statistic in context. They cannot relate bad news from Mexico to the risk that inevitably surrounds their lives. The risk of catching swine flu must be millions to one.Health scares are like terrorist ones. Someone somewhere has an interest in it. We depend on others with specialist knowledge to advise and warn us and assume they offer advice on a dispassionate basis, using their expertise to assess danger and communicating it in measured English. Words such as possibly, potentially, could or might should be avoided. They are unspecific qualifiers and open to exaggeration.

The World Health Organisation, always eager to push itself into the spotlight, loves to talk of the world being "ready" for a flu pandemic, apparently on the grounds that none has occurred for some time. There is no obvious justification for this scaremongering. I suppose the world is "ready" for another atomic explosion or another 9/11.

Professional expertise is now overwhelmed by professional log-rolling. Risk aversion has trounced risk judgment. An obligation on public officials not to scare people or lead them to needless expense is overridden by the yearning for a higher budget or more profit. Health scares enable media-hungry doctors, public health officials and drugs companies to benefit by manipulating fright.

On Monday the EU health commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou, advised travellers not to go to north or central America "unless it's very urgent". The British Foreign Office warned against "all but essential" travel to Mexico because of the danger of catching flu. This was outrageous. It would make more sense to proffer such a warning against the American crime rate. Yet such health-and-safety hysteria wiped millions from travel company shares.

During the BSE scare of 1995-7, grown men with medical degrees predicted doom, terrifying ministers into mad politician disease. The scientists' hysteria, that BSE "has the potential to infect up to 10 million Britons", led to tens of thousands of cattle being fed into power stations and ?5bn spent on farmers' compensation. A year later, the scientists tried to maintain that BSE "might" spread to sheep because, according to one government scientist, "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". The meat industry was wrecked and an absurd ongoing cost was imposed on stock farmers with the closure and concentration of abattoirs.

This science-based insanity was repeated during the Sars outbreak of 2003, asserted by Dr Patrick Dixon, formerly of the London Business School, to have "a 25% chance of killing tens of millions". The press duly headlined a plague "worse than Aids". Not one Briton died.

The same lunacy occurred in 2006 with avian flu, erupting after a scientist named John Oxford declared that "it will be the first pandemic of the 21st century". The WHO issued a statement that "one in four Britons could die".

Epidemiologists love the word "could" because it can always assure them of a headline. During the avian flu mania, Canada geese were treated like Goering's bombers. RSPB workers were issued with protective headgear.

The media went berserk, with interviewers asking why the government did not close all schools "to prevent up to 50,000 deaths". The Today programme's John Humphrys became frantic when a dead goose flopped down on an isolated Scottish beach and a hapless local official refused to confirm the BBC's hysteria. The bird might pose no threat to Scotland, but how dare he deny London journalists a good panic?

Meanwhile a real pestilence, MRSA and C difficile, was taking hold in hospitals. It was suppressed by the medical profession because it appeared that they themselves might be to blame. These diseases have played a role in thousands of deaths in British hospitals - the former a reported 1,652 and the latter 8,324 in 2007 alone. Like deaths from alcoholism, we have come to regard hospital-induced infection as an accident of life, a hazard to which we have subconsciously adjusted.

MRSA and C difficile are not like swine flu, an opportunity for public figures to scare and posture and spend money. They are diseases for which the government is to blame. They claim no headlines and no Cobra priority. Their sufferers must crawl away and die in silence.

simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/29/swine-flu-mexico-uk-media1">Simon Jenkins: Swine flu? A panic stoked in order to posture and spend | Comment is free | The Guardian</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Swine flu widens in Europe with first German case

Swine flu widens in Europe with first German case

29 Apr 2009 08:37:12 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Recasts, adds details)
BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) -

Germany confirmed its first case of swine flu in a man in Bavaria on Wednesday, marking the arrival of the virus in the heart of continental Europe.


Bavaria's health ministry said in a statement the Robert Koch institute, a federal agency for infectious diseases, had found swine flu in one of three suspected cases in the state.

Authorities said the infected man, the first publicly confirmed case in Germany, had recently been in Mexico and was from Mallersdorf near the city of Regensburg.

Spain and Britain have both identified two cases of the virus each, but no infections have yet been confirmed in central or eastern Europe, according to latest reports.

Outside Bavaria, authorities are known to be investigating five other suspected cases of swine flu in Germany.

One is in Hamburg, with a further three cases in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The other involves a married couple from the city of Braunschweig who had recently returned from New York. The wife has already tested negative for the virus.

Pig futures prices in Germany fell slightly on Tuesday due to concerns over the spread of swine flu from Mexico.

The new H1N1 virus has been confirmed around the world but Mexico remains the only country with deaths -- 159 by the government's estimate -- and the epicentre of the outbreak.

(Reporting by Petra Jasper and Dave Graham, edited by Richard Meares)
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT843019.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Swine flu widens in Europe with first German case</cite>

 

[Vibrant62]

BBC News Report - Mexico Retests Cases

BBC News Report - Mexico Retests Cases

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8023820.stm

Mexico City has banned restaurants and cafes from serving all food except takeaways in a bid to help prevent the spread of the deadly swine flu virus.

Schools across Mexico have closed, public gatherings are restricted and archaeological sites placed off-limits.

The country's health minister says 159 people are believed to have died from swine flu, but the confirmed death toll has been reduced from 20 to seven.

The number of cases globally is rising, though no-one outside Mexico has died.

The UN has called on countries to check their contingency plans for a possible global epidemic, or pandemic.

The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) assistant director general, Dr Keiji Fukuda, said a pandemic was "a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable".

As officials in Mexico City announced the latest measures to stop the virus spreading, the city's chamber of trade estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m or ?39m) a day.

US cases confirmed

Mexico's Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova has said that although the number of suspected fatalities has risen slightly, the situation is "more or less stable".

He said that more rigorous testing meant that the confirmed death toll from swine flu had been reduced from 20 to seven.

There are a suspected 2,498 cases of swine flu, and 1,311 remain in hospital.

After Mexico - where the outbreak started - the US has the highest number of confirmed swine flu cases with 64.

President Barack Obama has asked Congress for an additional $1.5bn (?1bn) to bolster the US response.


CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES
Mexico: 159 suspected deaths - seven confirmed cases
US: 64 confirmed cases
Canada: 13 confirmed cases
New Zealand: 3 confirmed cases
UK, Spain, Israel: 2 confirmed cases each
Countries with suspected cases: Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Australia, and South Korea, and seven EU states

Mapping the outbreak
In California, where there have been 11 cases, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency as a precautionary measure but stressed there was "no need for alarm".

In another development, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is sending a team to investigate claims that industrial pig farms in Mexico were the source of the outbreak in humans.

The agency's chief veterinary officer, Joseph Domenech, told the BBC that the FAO had to act following rumours that people had been falling ill last month near some intensive pig farms .

Other countries around the world to have confirmed swine flu cases are Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Israel and the UK.

Several other countries are investigating suspected cases including Australia, Brazil, France, Chile and Denmark.

The WHO says it is "critical" that travellers from Mexico who might be infected be identified, but it has advised against countries imposing border restrictions or travel bans, saying such measures do not work.

Some countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe are screening airport passengers for symptoms, while tour operators in France and Germany have suspended trips to Mexico.

Flights stopped

Argentina has suspended all flights from Mexico City until Monday in what it described as a precautionary measure.

The Argentine Cabinet Chief Sergio Massa called on all visitors from North America who'd arrived in the last 20 days to contact the health ministry.

Cuba also suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours from Tuesday and a Canadian tour operator, Air Transat, said it was also halting flights to Mexico until 1 June.

The WHO raised its pandemic alert status to level four on Monday - two levels from a full pandemic - after concluding there had been sustained transmission between humans.

Levels five and six are reserved for when there is widespread human infection.

In almost all cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday it may abandon the term swine flu because some people wrongly think they can catch it from pork.

Pork producers in the US and Brazil are pushing for the name "swine" to be changed, saying it is damaging their business.

China, Russia and Ukraine have all banned pork imports from Mexico and parts of the US since the outbreak began.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Mexico vows to act responsibly in swine flu crisis

Mexico vows to act responsibly in swine flu crisis

29 Apr 2009 14:55:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (Reuters) -

Mexico's foreign minister vowed on Wednesday that her country would act responsibly and with transparency to deal with a swine flu crisis that health officials fear could erupt into a pandemic.


"The government of Mexico has acted with full transparency, with a sense of responsibility not only towards our own citizens, the citizens of Mexico, but also the citizens of the entire world," Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa told the U.N. Security Council during a meeting on unrelated matters.

"I wish to assure all of you that Mexico will continue to act in the same spirit of responsibility and transparency," she said.

Nearly a week after the threat emerged in Mexico, where up to 159 people have died, a U.S. official confirmed on Wednesday that a 23-month-old boy had died in Texas, the state bordering Mexico. A health official said the baby was a resident of Mexico.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by )
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29418032.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Mexico vows to act responsibly in swine flu crisis</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Swine flu could threaten millions with other diseases

Swine flu could threaten millions with other diseases

29 Apr 2009 14:12:51 GMT
Source: Reuters

* Swine flu could threaten millions with HIV, tuberculosis
* Immune-weakened people may struggle to fight new virus
* WHO appeals for continued attention to other diseases

By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA, April 29 (Reuters) -

The swine flu outbreak, which has killed up to 160 people, could be especially dangerous for millions of people already battling other infections, such as HIV or tuberculosis, health experts said.


A 23-month-old child died in Texas on Wednesday, becoming the first death from swine flu outside Mexico, where the H1N1 strain raised alarms when it killed young adults who are normally more resilient than babies and the elderly.

The virus has caused mainly minor symptoms in countries with confirmed infections outside Mexico, and the outbreak remains tiny in scale compared to other epidemics such as malaria, hepatitis, cholera and meningitis.

However, as it continues to spread epidemiologists worry that swine flu could have a devastating impact on people whose immune systems are weak due to the AIDS virus or other diseases.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman Gregory Hartl said adults who suffered severe pneumonia and died from the virus in Mexico may in fact have fallen into this category.

"It is a question which a lot of our scientists have been looking at," Hartl told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday, when asked why the deaths so far have been clustered in Mexico.

"Maybe people were infected with other illnesses too that made their illness more severe. Maybe they were immunologically suppressed," he said.


LOW IMMUNITY LEVELS KEY

According to WHO estimates, there are 33 million people infected with immune-weakening HIV worldwide, and another 9 million people are diagnosed with tuberculosis every year, a disease that only rears its head when immunity levels are low.

If swine flu infiltrates those communities, and takes hold in impoverished and densely-populated areas such as urban slums, where tropical and other diseases are rife, health experts expect the outbreak could quickly become more severe.

With health budgets already stretched by the global economic downturn, WHO officials are appealing to governments to keep ensuring HIV and tuberculosis patients get the drugs they need to stay strong, and to improve access to medical care and testing facilities in poor areas.

"Many of the world's poorest people are particularly vulnerable to lethal airborne diseases," said Glenn Thomas, a spokesman for the Stop TB Partnership.

"With health resources already stretched in low income countries, a new disease pandemic could jeopardize effective TB control and other health programmes," he said.

WHO Acting Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda stressed that while it is important to keep a close watch on swine flu -- in case it ramps up into a full-blown pandemic -- other epidemics and diseases need continued attention and care.

But we are also mindful that even in this kind of situation other urgent health matters and issues do not go away," he said.
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT510758.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Swine flu could threaten millions with other diseases</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Egypt orders cull of pigs over swine flu scare

Egypt orders cull of pigs over swine flu scare

29 Apr 2009 14:26:59 GMT
Source: Reuters

* Between 300,000 to 400,000 pigs could be affected
* Egypt already hard hit by bird flu
* Affected farmers will be compensated

(Updates with cull order, sporadic culling begins)

By Cynthia Johnston
CAIRO, April 29 (Reuters) -

Egypt, hard hit by the bird flu virus, on Wednesday ordered the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of pigs as a precautionary measure as swine flu neared its borders.


The move was not expected to prevent the H1N1 virus from striking, since the illness is spread by people and not present in Egyptian swine. However, a cull of pigs, largely viewed as unclean in conservative Muslim Egypt, could help quell a panic.

Pigs are mainly raised by Egypt's Christian minority.

Experts fear a flu pandemic could spread quickly in Egypt and have a devastating impact in the most populous Arab country, most of whose roughly 80 million people live in the densely packed Nile Valley, many in crowded slums in and around Cairo.

"It is decided to slaughter all swine herds present in Egypt, starting from today," Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali said in a statement.

Cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady put the number of pigs that could be culled at between 300,000 and 400,000, adding that farmers would be compensated. Sporadic culling began even before the decision was announced, with about 75 pigs killed so far, officials said.

"If you see the conditions of the swine farms in Egypt, they are not healthy at all. They are hazards in themselves, even without the swine flu. That's why people are really getting afraid," Rady told Reuters before the decision was taken.

Swine flu has killed up to 159 people in Mexico and one in the United States, and cases have been reported in Europe and in Israel, which borders Egypt. No cases have been reported in Egypt, but monitoring has been stepped up at airports.

RISKS IN EGYPT

Egypt, harder hit by the H5N1 bird flu virus than any other country outside Asia, is deeply worried about the effects of another flu virus after extensive damage to its poultry industry and economy.

Experts say the culling of pigs in Egypt, which has seen a surge in human cases of bird flu this month, is unlikely to affect the spread of swine flu if it reaches the country.

"I wouldn't say it is beneficial for swine flu. It would be beneficial for the general hygiene ... Generally speaking, pigs can transmit many other diseases," Hussein Gezairy, regional director for the World Health Organisation, told journalists.

Mona Aly Mehrez, director of the state-run Animal Welfare Research Institute, said Egypt had long wanted to move pigs away from urban centres as a precaution against possible mutation of the bird flu virus.

Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper said owners of culled pigs could receive 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($177.3) ($177) per animal in compensation, although Rady said the issue was still under discussion.

"If you visit these farms you will find the pigs and the chickens are mixed together ... The health and veterinary people are warning that it could be a hazard," Rady said, adding that the concern was of "mutation of bird flu in a new form".

Experts say it is technically possible but highly unlikely that swine flu, which has elements of swine, human and avian flu, could to combine with H5N1 in Egypt to create yet another strain.

(Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT533555.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Egypt orders cull of pigs over swine flu scare</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Mexican boy was receiving flu treatment in Texas-official

Mexican boy was receiving flu treatment in Texas-official

29 Apr 2009 14:29:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
HOUSTON, April 29 (Reuters) -

A nearly two-year-old boy who has become the first death in the United States from the H1N1 swine flu had been receiving aggressive treatment for flu, a Houston health official said on Wednesday.


"It is important for everyone everyone to know that while the death occurred here in Houston ... this child is a resident of Mexico who traveled to Texas to visit family," said David Persse, director of emergency medical services for the city of Houston, adding that the child's family "are healthy and well and have not had any symptoms."

The boy who died lived in Matamoros, on the Mexican border with Texas, Persse said.

(Reporting by Chris Baltimore, editing by Jackie Frank)
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/WAT011371.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Mexican boy was receiving flu treatment in Texas-official</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Massachusetts confirms two cases of swine flu

Massachusetts confirms two cases of swine flu

29 Apr 2009 14:44:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
BOSTON, April 29 (Reuters) -

Massachusetts authorities on Wednesday confirmed two cases of H1N1 swine flu, the first official reported cases of the virus in the New England region.


The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said two children had tested positive for the virus.

(Editing by Will Dunham)
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29407668.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Massachusetts confirms two cases of swine flu</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - FACTBOX-Country by country spread of new flu strain (4/29/2009, 6.15 pm CET)

FACTBOX-Country by country spread of new flu strain

29 Apr 2009 16:07:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates tolls)
April 29 (Reuters) -

A Mexican toddler in Texas has died of the H1N1 flu strain, the first confirmed death outside Mexico from a virus which health officials fear could cause a pandemic as it spread to two more countries in Europe.


Germany and Austria announced their first confirmed cases of swine flu on Wednesday, taking to nine the number of countries known to be affected.

Here are details of the latest number of cases country by country:


COUNTRY / DEATHS / CONFIRMED CASES / SUSPECTED CASES

• MEXICO / 159 / 26 / 2,500*
• UNITED STATES / 1 / 90 / 0
• CANADA / 0 / 13 / 0
• SPAIN / 0 / 10 / 53
• BRITAIN / 0 / 5 / 23
• GERMANY / 0 / 3 / 12
• NEW ZEALAND / 0 / 3 / 11
• ISRAEL / 0 / 2 / 2
• AUSTRIA / 0 / 1 / 2
• AUSTRALIA / 0 / 0 / 91
• FRANCE / 0 / 0 / 30
• SWITZERLAND / 0 / 0 / 25
• CHILE / 0 / 0 / 24
• BRAZIL / 0 / 0 / 20
• SOUTH KOREA / 0 / 0 / 17
• DENMARK / 0 / 0 / 11
• COLOMBIA / 0 / 0 / 10
• GUATEMALA / 0 / 0 / 3
• COSTA RICA / 0 / 0 / 2
• EL SALVADOR / 0 / 0 / 2
• SOUTH AFRICA / 0 / 0 / 2
• BOLIVIA / 0 / 0 / 1
• CROATIA / 0 / 0 / 1
• FINLAND / 0 / 0 / 1
• NORWAY / 0 / 0 / 1
• PERU / 0 / 0 / 1

NOTES:
* MEXICO: Mexico has reported 159 deaths which are based on symptoms and initial tests, with seven deaths so far confirmed by additional laboratory analysis at the World Health Organization.

Sources: Reuters/WHO/CDC
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT858208.htm">Reuters AlertNet - FACTBOX-Country by country spread of new flu strain</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

WHO says swine flu moving closer to pandemic

WHO says swine flu moving closer to pandemic

By PATRICK McGROARTY, Associated Press Writer
BERLIN ?

The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that the swine flu outbreak is moving closer to becoming a pandemic, as the United States reported the first swine flu death outside of Mexico, and Germany and Austria became latest European nations hit by the disease.


In Geneva, WHO flu chief Dr. Keiji Fukuda told reporters that there was no evidence the virus was slowing down, moving the agency closer to raising its pandemic alert to phase 5, indicating widespread human-to-human transmission.

But he said the health body not yet ready to move the pandemic alert level up from its current level of 4, which means the virus is being passed among people. Phase 6 ? the highest in the scale ? is for a full-scale pandemic.

As fear and uncertainty about the disease ricocheted around the globe, nations took all sorts of precautions, some more useful than others.

Britain closed a school after a 12-year-old girl was found to have the disease. Egypt slaughtered all its pigs and the central African nation of Gabon became the latest nation to ban pork imports, despite assurances that swine flu was not related to eating pork.

Cuba eased its flight ban, deciding just to block flights coming in from Mexico. And Asian nations greeted returning airport travelers with teams of medical workers and carts of disinfectants, eager to keep swine flu from infecting their continent.

In Mexico City, the epicenter of the epidemic, the mayor said Wednesday the outbreak seemed to be stabilizing and he was considering easing the citywide shutdown that closed schools, restaurants, concert halls and sports arenas.

Swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people in Mexico and sickening over 2,400 there.

Dr. Richard Besser, the acting chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said 91 cases have now been confirmed in 10 states, and health officials there reported Wednesday that a 23-month-old Mexican boy had died in Texas from the disease.


Across Europe, Germany confirmed three swine flu cases and Austria one, while the number of confirmed cases rose to five in Britain and ten in Spain.

WHO conducted a scientific review Wednesday to determine exactly what is known about how the disease spreads, how it affects human health and how it can be treated.

Dr. Nikki Shindo, a WHO flu expert, said the review would focus on the large trove of data coming from Mexico and from a school in New York City that has been hard-hit by the outbreak.

Germany's national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said the country's three cases include a 22-year-old woman hospitalized in Hamburg, a man in his late 30s at a hospital in Regensburg, north of Munich, and a 37-year-old woman from another Bavarian town. All three had recently returned from Mexico.

Austria's health ministry said a 28-year-old woman who recently returned from a monthlong trip to Guatemala via Mexico City and Miami has the virus but is recovering.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said health officials were ordering extra medicine and "several million more" face masks to deal with the virus.

British media reports, citing an unidentified European surgical mask manufacturer, said the U.K. was seeking 32 million masks to protect its health workers from a possible pandemic.

"We've decided to build stocks of anti-virals, from 35 million to 50 million," Brown said, adding that the government had put in enhanced airport checks and was going to mail swine flu information leaflets to every household in Britain.

In addition to a couple in Scotland who got swine flu on their Mexican honeymoon, new British cases included a 12-year-old girl in the southwest English town of Torbay. Brown said her school had been closed as a precaution.

He said the other two cases were adults in London and in Birmingham. All three had visited Mexico, were receiving anti-viral drugs and were responding well to treatment, Brown said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Cabinet ministers to discuss swine flu and his health minister said France will ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico.

The U.S., the European Union and other countries have discouraged nonessential travel to Mexico. Cuba suspended all regular and charter flights from Mexico to the island but was still allowing airlines to return travelers to Mexico.

New Zealand's number of swine flu cases rose to 14, 13 of them among a school group that recently returned from Mexico. Officials say the swine flu strain infecting the students is the same as that in Mexico. All were responding well to antiviral drugs and in voluntary quarantine at home.

New Zealand has 44 other possible cases, with tests under way.

Mexico was taking drastic measures to fight the outbreak. It closed all archaeological sites and allowed restaurants in the capital to only serve takeout food in an aggressive bid to stop gatherings where the virus can spread. Schools remained closed until at least May 6.

A regional beach soccer championship in Mexico was postponed and all Mexican first-division soccer games this weekend will be played with no audiences. Cruise lines were avoiding Mexican ports and holiday tour groups are canceling holiday charter flights there.

The Philippine health chief appealed to dozens of Filipino legislators to abandon plans to visit Las Vegas to cheer for boxing idol Manny Pacquiao ? even though Las Vegas is more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) from the Mexican border.

Egypt's government ordered the slaughter of all pigs in the country as a precaution, though no swine flu cases have been reported there. Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not eat pork, but farmers raise up to 350,000 pigs for its Christian minority.

In Australia, officials were testing more than 100 people with flu symptoms for the virus and the government gave health authorities wide powers to contain contagious diseases.

"(We can make) sure that people are isolated and perhaps detained if they don't cooperate and are showing symptoms," said Health Minister Nicola Roxon.
___
Associated Press Writers around the world contributed to this report.
-
​

<cite cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_he_me/swine_flu_world">WHO says swine flu moving closer to pandemic</cite>

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: From the news: Roundup and analysis.

Reuters AlertNet - Texas Gov issues disaster proclamation due swine flu

Texas Gov issues disaster proclamation due swine flu

29 Apr 2009 16:14:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
HOUSTON, April 29 (Reuters) -

Texas Governor Rick Perry on Wednesday issued a disaster proclamation after the state saw the first U.S. death from swine flu.


There are now 16 confirmed cases of swine flu in Texas, a state health official said at a news conference in Austin.

(Reporting by Chris Baltimore, editing by Jackie Frank)
-
​

<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29419787.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Texas Gov issues disaster proclamation due swine flu</cite>