The World Health Organisation (WHO) will raise its pandemic alert level to phase 4 over the deadly swine flu virus. This shows that the infection can spread between humans to cause community-level outbreaks
Dozens of deaths have occurred from the swine influenza outbreak in Mexico. People wore surgical masks on Monday in Mexico City
The pedestrian walks past shuttered businesses in Mexico City. Some shops in the city remained closed due to the beginning of a national holiday and the government advising people to stay home in hopes of containing the swine flu outbreak
A worker carries face masks inside a warehouse in Bataan province in the Philippines. The plant, which manufactures face masks and isolation gowns, has trebled its production since the outbreak of swine flu.
A truck transports pigs through the streets of Mexico City. There have been nine confirmed fatalities from swine flu in Mexico, while more than 150 are suspected to have died from the infection
Passengers wear protective masks during a flight from Guatemala to Mexico
Travellers from an international flight are pictured on a thermographic device as they arrived at Sofia airport in Bulgaria
Students and parents leave Kilmer Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois. There has been a confirmed case of the flu at the school, which will be closed until further notice
At a pig farming centre near Cairo, farmers prevented health ministry workers from slaughtering their pigs. The Egyptian government has ordered a massive culling of swine throughout the country
Airport security officers stand next to a banner with information about the swine flu virus at Allama Iqbal international airport in Lahore. Pakistan has taken precautionary measures at airports and sea ports to monitor the swine flu virus. No case has been reported in any part of the country, said Abdur Rasheed Juma, a top health official
A waiter wears a face mask as a precaution against swine flu as he works in a restaurant in Mexico City. Mexico ordered restaurants to limit service to takeout as part of a citywide shut down to help contain the spread of the virus. The sign at left reads in Spanish: 'Due to the current situation, our food will be to go.'
Robert Nickla prepares clinical samples submitted for influenza testing at the Arizona State Laboratory in Phoenix. Federal officials have confirmed that Arizona has recorded its first case of the new swine flu.
1. Over 100 dead in Mexico flu outbreak
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090427/ts_nm/us_flu_47
By Catherine Bremer
Posted on Mon Apr 27, 7:43 am ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Governments around the world moved to contain the spread of a possible flu pandemic on Monday, as a virus that has killed 103 people in Mexico spread to the United States and may have reached as far as New Zealand.
Fearing another setback for the fragile world economy, markets reacted nervously to the swine flu outbreak, which has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to activate its 24-hour "war room" command center.
The yen and dollar rose while Mexico's peso fell, although Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens tried to reassure markets, saying the impact on the economy would be transitory.
Shares fell in Asia and Europe, with travel and leisure stocks such as Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways and British Airways down sharply, whereas makers of drugs and vaccines, such as Roche, were higher.
No deaths have occurred outside Mexico from the new strain of swine flu but 20 cases have been identified in the United States and six in Canada. Possible cases are being checked as far afield as Europe, Israel and New Zealand.
Countries stepped up surveillance at airports and ports, using thermal cameras and sensors to identify people with fever.
Japan's cabinet held a special meeting and said it would prioritize production of a new vaccine. Health authorities across Asia tried to reassure nationals, saying they had sufficient stockpiles of anti-flu drugs to handle an outbreak.
The European Commission called an urgent meeting of health ministers.
The new flu strain, a mixture of various swine, bird and human viruses, poses the biggest risk of a large-scale pandemic since avian flu surfaced in 1997, killing several hundred people. A 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally.
The United States declared a public health emergency on Sunday. Although most cases outside Mexico were relatively mild, a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she feared there might be U.S. fatalities.
PANDEMIC WORRY
The WHO has declared the flu a "public health emergency of international concern" that could become a pandemic or global outbreak of a serious disease. That could cost trillions of dollars to a world economy already in its worst crisis in decades.
A top virologist who helped fight the last two major global health scares -- SARS in 2003 and bird flu which re-emerged the same year -- worried that Asia could again bear the brunt of a new pandemic.
"We are counting down to a pandemic," said Guan Yi, a virology professor at the University of Hong Kong who helped trace the deadly outbreak of SARS to the civet cat.
"I think the spread of this virus in humans cannot possibly be contained within a short time ... there are already cases in almost every region. The picture is changing every moment."
Investors in Asia are all the more aware of the potential damage after the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong six years ago hobbled the city and regional economy, as well as flare-ups of bird flu in the past few years.
At the center of the outbreak this time is Mexico, a major exporter of oil, coffee and factory goods. Late on Sunday, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the flu had killed 103 people in the country and about 400 people were admitted to hospital.
A glimmer of hope was that most patients had recovered.
MEXICO CITY SHUTS DOWN
Schools have been closed in several Mexican states this week in order to slow the spread of the virus.
Many in the capital spent the weekend hunkered at home or wore blue surgical face masks handed out by truckloads of soldiers to venture out onto strangely hushed streets. The city government considered halting public transport.
"The idea of spending 10 days in the house with two small children, with no cafes, no museums, is totally unappealing so I'm going to San Diego," said an American expatriate, C.R. Hibbs, who was headed out of the city with her kids.
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebard said closures in the capital could last 10 days. Far away in the Pacific party-town of Acapulco, hundreds of nightclubs were shuttered.
Flu is characterized by a sudden fever, muscle aches, sore throat and dry cough. Victims of the new strain have also suffered from vomiting and diarrhea.
2. Swine flu fears keep 130,000 Texas kids home
http://www.examiner.com/a-1989683~Swine_flu_fears_keep_130_000_Texas_kids_home.html
By ANGELA K. BROWN, AP
Posted on Apr 30, 2009 2:41 AM
Two more school systems on Wednesday shuttered all of their campuses after reports of probable cases of swine flu, causing more than 130,000 students statewide to miss class because of concerns about the virus.
Fort Worth School District Superintendent Melody Johnson announced Wednesday night that the district - which has about 80,000 students - would close its 140 schools through at least May 8. Only essential personnel at central headquarter will work during that time, she said.
There are 11 probable swine flu cases in the county that includes Fort Worth, according to Tarrant County Public Health officials. One case is confirmed at a Fort Worth middle school, Dr. Sandra Parker, the agency's medical director, said at a news conference.
Earlier Wednesday, Cleburne school district officials canceled classes the rest of the week for the nearly 7,000 students after four probable cases were reported, Superintendent Ronny Beard said. Workers have started disinfecting all buildings, buses, playground equipment and everything else that students touch, he said.
The four students ages 15 to 17 attend Cleburne's lone high school, Beard said. But officials decided to close all 11 schools because so many parents kept their elementary-age children home or rushed to pick them up early Wednesday after hearing news of the probable flu cases, Beard said.
He said the closures may last longer and that he followed the recommendations of health officials, who advised closing the schools for seven to 10 days in the 30,000-resident city about 50 miles southwest of Dallas.
"It's a novel virus. We don't know much about it," Dr. James Zoretic, a regional director of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said at a news conference Wednesday in Cleburne. "We need to slow it down. If we don't congregate, we don't spread it."
Beard said the district is still waiting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the cases, which could take several days. The CDC has confirmed 16 cases in Texas.
Tracy Allen, after picking up two of her three children at a middle school in Cleburne on Wednesday, said she planned to spend the rest of the day watching movies and munching on snacks at home with her youngsters.
"I am not that concerned. I think they are taking all the precautions necessary to make sure our schools are clean and well disinfected," Allen said. "I think it is still pretty isolated at this point."
Before Fort Worth announced its schools' closings, Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott said earlier Wednesday that 53,000 of the state's 4.7 million public school students were affected by the closures.
At least four other Texas school districts also were closed, and all high school sports competitions in the state were suspended until May 11 because of fears about the illness, state officials said.
The Schertz-Cibolo ISD near San Antonio closed all 14 schools, including a high school where three of the state's confirmed cases of swine flu were found. The entire Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District also closed for the week after two suspected cases were discovered at a middle school. The Comal and New Braunfels school districts were closed through May 8 because of suspected cases.
Individual schools in some districts - including Corpus Christi, Dallas, McAllen, Lewisville and Austin - were closed because of confirmed or suspected cases.
Corpus Christi Independent School District Superintendent Scott Elliff said late Wednesday night that Miller High School could be closed until further notice because a student at the campus has a probable case of swine flu. Elliff said no other campuses in the school district were affected. But, Elliff said, if health officials find any additional probable cases, then the entire district may shut down, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported Thursday.
Dr. William Burgin, the medical authority for the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Health District, said the suspected case of swine flu had not been confirmed and he had no details about the student.
School districts including Aransas County, Banquete, Calallen, Freer, George West, Ingleside, Mathis, Orange Grove, Port Aransas, Riviera, Robstown, Sinton, Tuloso-Midway and West Oso have suspended out-of-district travel until further notice.
Because of the closures and parents keeping children home on their own, students were missing school on an important day for standardized state tests. But Scott said no district that closes because of swine flu concerns will be penalized in a financial or academic way.
"Quite frankly that's really the last thing a lot of those districts need to be worried about right now. We will accommodate them. We will test the students when they come back," he said.
Scott said the state will offer "waiver days" to make sure schools don't have to make up those days in the summer. If students are unable to be tested, the state will work with those districts to adjust their accountability ratings accordingly.
Scott said his message to families is this: "If you're sick, now is not the time to be worried about the perfect attendance award. Stay home, get better and let this thing run its course."
He added that the vast majority of Texas schools are operating normally and that many TAKS tests are being administered this week.
The decision to postpone all high school sports across the state was made at the urging of public health officials, University Interscholastic League Executive Director Charles Breithaupt said.
The move suspends the baseball season and eliminates the regional track championships, he said.
The state golf and tennis championships are scheduled to begin May 11. The state track meet, one of the largest high school track and field competitions in the country, remains scheduled for May 13-14.
All UIL academic competitions were postponed as well.
Meanwhile, all Arlington Independent School District campuses and facilities will remain open and operate on a normal schedule, but all field trips have been canceled until further notice.
The district will continue working closely with the city's Office of Emergency Management to monitor the public health concerns regarding swine flu, spokeswoman Veronica V. Sopher said in an e-mail early Thursday.
3.EU health minister: Don't travel to Mexico or US
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090427/ap_on_he_me/eu_eu_swine_flu_1
By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
Posted on Mon Apr 27, 6:55 am ET
LUXEMBOURG – The European Union's health commissioner urged Europeans on Monday to postpone nonessential travel to the United States or Mexico due to swine flu.
EU Health Commissioner Andorra Vassiliou met with the EU foreign ministers on the subject as Spain reported the first confirmed case of swine flu in Europe. That was also the first swine flu case outside North America.
On arriving in Luxembourg, Vassiliou advised Europeans to reassess their travel plans.
She told reporters "they should avoid traveling to Mexico or the United States of America unless it is very urgent for them."
EU foreign ministers discussed the outbreak of swine flu on Monday and the EU health ministers were holding an emergency meeting on the subject Thursday.
My reaction
After I heard news about Swine flu last 2 weeks that flu pandemic has killed 103 people in Mexico spread to the United States and around Europe zone.
Recently, it’s come to Asia region and Hong Kong is the first country that found about the virus. It has driven the Swine Flu epidemic become front page news of every news media this week. Do you think media driven Swine flu panic?
I have started to feel like news media is trying to create a panic among the people about a new stress of Swine Flu that first appeared in Mexico. Of course, everyone is concerned because more than100 people have already died in Mexico from this new virus. I think that most of people need the facts about what this new form of Swine Flu is all about and inform for real situation without any force to drive panic story. In the other hand, the way media is trying to create a panic that effect people worldwide both negative and positive ways.
• I have to say media is one of the important parts to making people all over the world prepared and get ready to handle with the Swine Flu pandemic because if they are not inform what’s happening and where are spreading then people might not enthusiasm to prepare with this.
• Sometimes, the way media informed news will make expert in any field try to find something new to cure and heal. Plus, if there are flu pandemic again next 5 years or 10 years then people ready to handle with that situation again.
• I believe that most of people feel safer when they see the World Health Organization and all the national health agencies of the world are pay attention and working to protect us because virus do not care about sex, race, nations, or borders, better be safe.
• About the Swine Flu outbreak is on front page of every news media that drive people panic and made them paranoid. When news making them fears, they will care nothing except themselves.
• Shutting schools are making parent keep their kids at home without going outside because of fears.
• The swine flu outbreak is already starting to have an impact people worldwide in many ways such as tourism industry and economics.
• Although this virus can be passed by human to human not pig to human. But people still paranoid and not eating pork. It will make pork trader lose cost and the price of meat will be increased rapidly.
Conclusion
The deaths from the swine flu are affecting not just that group but healthy people as well. However, if you catch it early there is a chance for survival that is why the media is covering the story so much to make sure everyone gets the information. While I think that the media have an important part to play in this. Is it the media themselves that is causing people to panic? Are they overstating? Yes they are, but they are also informing people about where it has spread and what they can do to protect themselves. So, you have to consider on what is the fact, what is real and should not over panic that will making uneasily controlled.
For this situation, you should practice basic prevention techniques, if you can, stay away from very crowded public spaces, and if you think you're getting flu like symptoms go to a doctor or at least stay home from work or school. Moreover, the normal things in everyday life that we should do anyway. Washing your hands often, eating well, sleeping well, exercising, anything you can do to keep yourself healthy.
