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Europeans urged to avoid Mexico and US as swine flu death toll exceeds 100
The EU's health commissioner today urged Europeans to postpone non-essential travel to Mexico and the US, as the death toll from the virus in Mexico rose to more than 100 and the first European case was confirmed in Spain.
In Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers were discussing the virus, Androulla Vassiliou told reporters people should avoid travelling to Mexico or the US "unless it is very urgent for them".
The World Health Organisation has brought forward a meeting of its international flu experts to advise it on whether the current pandemic alert level should be raised to this afternoon, because of the increasing number of confirmed swine flu cases in the US and Canada.
The group met on Saturday and had planned to reconvene tomorrow, while EU health ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday.
"Personally, I'd try to avoid non-essential travel to the areas which are reported to be in the centre of the cluster in order to minimise the personal risk and to reduce the potential risk to spread the infection to other people," Vassiliou said.
Possible cases of swine flu were reported as far afield as Israel, and New Zealand after a declaration at the weekend by the World Health Organisation of an international public health emergency was followed by a call for worldwide surveillance of the spread of the virus.
Twenty-five possible cases of swine flu have been reported in the UK, of which three are undergoing further tests in hospital the health secretary, Alan Johnson said today.
Two people have been in isolation wards in Scotland as a precaution after returning with flu-like symptons from Mexico.
Johnson said that eight cases had proved negative while the remaining 14 were undergoing initial investigation but were sufficiently well to be managed in the community.
A Canadian woman visiting Sale in Greater Manchester is in hospital undergoing tests for possible swine flu, it emerged this afternoon, as Britain's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, warned that the country would inevitably be hit by cases at some point. It was not known the woman had been to Mexico recently.
"We are aware that an overseas visitor to the Sale area is being tested for possible swine flu," NHS North West said in a statement. "The person concerned has been taken to hospital for further tests, in keeping with recommendations, and purely as a precaution." -
Mexico canceled school nationwide Monday as authorities warned that the swine flu death toll is likely to go up and the World Health Organization signaled that the chances of a full-blown pandemic are rising.
Mexican authorities believe as many as 149 people have died from the outbreak.
Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said 20 of the deaths have been confirmed to be from swine flu and the government was awaiting results on the others.
"We are the most critical moment of the epidemic. The number of cases will keep rising so we have to reinforce preventive measures," Cordova said at a news conference that was briefly shaken by an earthquake centered in southern Mexico.
Cordova said 1,995 people have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since mid-April, of whom 1,070 have been released. The government does not yet know how many were swine flu.
WHO says the phase 4 alert means sustained human to human transmission causing outbreaks in at least one country. It signals a significant increase in the risk of a global epidemic, but doesn't mean a pandemic is inevitable.
Many experts think it may be impossible to contain a flu virus already spreading in several countries.
The virus has been confirmed or suspected in at least a half-dozen other countries and has caused the U.S. to declare a health emergency.
Cordova also suggested an earlier timeline for documented swine flu cases inside Mexico. The first death confirmed by the government involved a woman who succumbed from swine flu on April 13 in southern Oaxaca state. But Cordova said tests now show that a 4-year-old boy contracted the disease at least two weeks earlier neighboring Veracruz state, where a community has been protesting pollution from a large pig farm.
The farm is run by Granjas Carroll de Mexico, a joint venture 50% owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, Inc. Spokeswoman Keira Ullrich said the company has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in its swine herd or its employees working at its joint ventures anywhere in Mexico.
But local residents are convinced they were sickened by air and water contamination from pig waste.
There was a widespread outbreak of a particularly powerful respiratory disease in the area early April, and some people reported being sick as early as February. Local health workers intervened in early April, sealing off the town of La Gloria and spraying to kill off flies they said were swarming through their homes.
Cordova said the community was suffering from ordinary influenza — not swine flu. But only one sample was preserved — that of the boy. It was only after U.S. and Canadian epidemiologists discovered the true nature of the virus that Mexico submitted the sample for international testing, and discovered what he suffered from.
The boy has since recovered and Cordova said there have been no new cases detected in the town.
But epidemiologists want to take a closer look at pigs in Mexico as a potential source of the outbreak.
Juan Lubroth, an animal health expert at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, said a team of veterinarians was flying to Mexico. They will examine what surveillance systems are in place to detect swine flu, and review historical data on previous viruses identified in the country. Farmers will be interviewed.
Lubroth said there have been no reports of sick or dying swine in Mexico, but warned that fears surrounding the outbreak could have a devastating effect on the pork industry.
"Although the virus is reported to have a swine origin, it may have been several years ago, and it's only now that it has shown up in humans as a clinical problem that is spreading," he said.
The Mexican government has yet to say where and how the epidemic began or give details on the victims.
Cordova said the health department lacked the staff to visit the homes of all those suspected to have died from the disease. But he assured that the country had enough medicine to treat the ill.
Meanwhile, Mexico suspended all schools nationwide until May 6, extending an order already in place in Mexico City and five of the country's 32 states, and urged people to stay home if they feel sick.
Labor Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcon said employers should isolate anyone showing up for work with fever, cough, sore throat or other symptoms. And the Mexico City government was considering shutting down all public transportation if the death toll keeps rising. Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said surgical masks were being distributed at subway and bus stops across the city.
The disease has hit hardest in the capital, but life was disrupted from Tijuana to Acapulco, a lucrative Pacific resort town where night clubs and bars were ordered closed until further notice. Acapulco Mayor Manuel Anorve Banos said he was worried about tourists from Mexico City spreading the disease.
Some city dwellers headed to the beach, taking advantage of the closed schools. But those who live day-to-day worried about making ends meet if the city completely shuts down.
"We're going to have to stop working," said Raul Alvarez Torres, who relies on the subway to get from his gritty suburb to his shoe shining stand in an upscale Mexico city neighborhood each day. "If people have no transport, getting around is impossible."
Even as Mexican officials urged those with flu symptoms to seek medical help, some complained of being turned away.
In Toluca, a city west of the capital, one family said health authorities refused to treat a relative Sunday who had full-blown flu symptoms and could barely stand. The man, 31-year-old truck driver Elias Camacho, was even ordered out of a government ambulance, his father-in-law told The Associated Press.
Paramedics complained that Camacho — who had a fever, was coughing and had body aches — was contagious, Jorge Martinez Cruz said.
Family members took him by taxi to a public hospital, but a doctor there denied Camacho was sick and told the trio to leave, Martinez said.
"The government told us that if we have these symptoms, we should go to these places, but look how they treat us," Martinez said. Camacho was finally admitted to the hospital — and placed in an area marked "restricted" — after a doctor at a private clinic notified state health authorities, Martinez said.
Jose Isaac Cepeda, who has had fever, diarrhea and joint pains since Friday, said he was turned away from two hospitals — the first because he isn't registered in the public health system, and the second "because they say they're too busy."Comment
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kaf kardam az baz tu akhbar rajebesh harf mizanan. kheili gondash mikonan~ Bahar ~
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I very rarely watch/listen to the news so i know very little about swine flu and its the best way i think. Some people are locking themselves inside in fear of edveloping this 'flu' which is just rediculous...unless of course you live in mexico. The situation is quite exagerrated imo..Proud to be Persian.Comment
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Swine flu is going to UK. They should arrive there withing next couple dayssss
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lol
.Proud to be Persian.Comment
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Britain reported its first swine flu death Sunday as Washington lawmakers prepared to okay an extra $350 million to cover the nationwide cost of the pandemic.
The flu victim, who died in a Scotland hospital, had underlying health conditions, officials said.
Sixteen New Yorkers have died from the H1N1 outbreak, which is expected to cost the city $100 million.
The additional federal funding to cover the cost of responding to swine flu is tucked into the supplemental appropriations bill, which pays for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is expected to pass easily this week.
"A large part of New York City's costs will be defrayed," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The funding will help pay for overtime for health care workers, testing, school cleaning, vaccines and treatment.Comment
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