Confirmed swine flu cases in US cross 400 with 2 deaths
Washington - A woman in her 30s died of swine flu in Texas, state health officials confirmed Tuesday, taking the overall toll from the outbreak in the United States to two.
The woman lived in Cameron County, near the US-Mexico border, and also suffered from other chronic health problems, said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The woman died last week, Williams told the German news agency dpa. Last week, a 23-month-old boy from Mexico City died in a Houston hospital.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that the number of confirmed cases in the US increased to 403 in 38 states. New York reported 90 cases, Illinois 82, California 49, Delaware 20 and Texas 41.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who visited the Atlanta, Georgia-based CDC on her first official trip outside Washington, said there were "another 700 probable cases in 44 states."
"We know there will be more cases. The numbers will go up and unfortunately there are likely to be more hospitalizations and more deaths," she said.
Monday's US count was 286 cases in 36 states."
But the good news is that the virus does not seem to be as severe as we once thought it could be, based on the very early studies in Mexico," Sebelius said.
The US government on Tuesday changed its advisory on school closures related to swine flu, saying that schools were no longer required to close down if students fell ill. Schools were earlier advised to close even if there were suspected flu cases.
"This is not an indication that we know enough about the course that this virus will take," Sebelius cautioned. "We don't know what will happen over the course of the summer and we certainly don't know what will happen when we get into flu season ... later this fall."
Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said the "big bump in cases" didn't reflect transmission, but rather that "we're catching up with the testing."
He said the confirmed cases were in patients in the age range of three months to 81 years, with a median age of 16 years. There were 35 hospitalizations in the US, where 62 per cent of those confirmed to have contracted the virus were under 18 years.
In Geneva, the World Health Organization updated the number of global laboratory-confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus to 1,490 human infections in 21 countries.
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As flu fears ease, Mexico prepares to re-open
By: AFP
Published: 6/05/2009 at 10:56 AM
Mexico was set to return to normal life Wednesday, reopening public venues in hopes that the worst of the swine flu outbreak is over -- even after confirmation of a US death across the border.
People walk outside the ward for patients kept in isolation for showing symptoms of the swine flu virus, at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER in Spanish) in Mexico City. Mexico was set to return to normal life Wednesday, reopening public venues in hopes that the worst of the swine flu outbreak is over -- even after confirmation of a US death across the border.
After five days of a virtual total shutdown to try to stop the spread of the virus at the centre of a global health scare, the country was to allow schools, restaurants and other public spaces to again open their doors to the public.
"This virus is still circulating," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in a televised address to the nation, warning people to keep taking precautions, such as hand-washing, to try to keep a lid on the A(H1N1) virus.
The emergence of the virus, a new strain that has combined human, swine and bird influenza, set off fears of a worldwide pandemic even though only 31 people have been confirmed dead -- a number in line with any "normal" flu bug.
World health officials have tallied 1,419 people infected around the globe so far, including 29 deaths in Mexico, while countries have imposed a range of measures to prevent a dangerous and massively deadly global outbreak.
Hundreds of people were still under quarantine at a hotel in Hong Kong, where health authorities sealed off the premises for seven days up until next Friday, and where memories are still fresh of the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak.
South Korea at the weekend became the second place in Asia to report a confirmed case of swine flu after Hong Kong, and the country on Tuesday confirmed its first person-to-person transmission of the disease.
In the United States, meanwhile, officials announced the first US national to die since the outbreak -- a woman who had chronic underlying conditions, officials said. It was only the second flu death recorded outside of Mexico.
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said it expected "more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths from this outbreak" in the weeks ahead.
But at the same time, US health authorities eased the restrictions for school closures, a move seen as a possible sign that the worst of the outbreak might well be over.
"This is presenting itself more like seasonal flu," said US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Although the worst initial fears about the outbreak have not been realized, Mexican officials said they estimated that the scare had cost the country 2.3 billion dollars.
The tourism sector was hit hard and the five-day shutdown also took its toll in a nation that was already struggling due to the worldwide economic slowdown.
Hotels in the capital Mexico City were down to 10 percent occupancy, and foreign visitors were absent from the city center and from popular tourist sites such as the country's famed Aztec pyramids, which were made off-limits.
While only China -- the origin of the 2003 SARS epidemic -- and a handful of Latin American countries cut travel ties with Mexico, several airlines, tour companies and cruise lines suspended trips to the country.
The incident strained relations between Mexico and China when 70 Mexican nationals, most or all without flu symptoms, were placed under quarantine in China after one Mexican citizen there was confirmed to have been infected.
There is no dedicated vaccine against the new A(H1N1) virus, but the World Health Organization said it was sending 2.4 million courses of anti-viral drug Tamiflu to 72 nations around the world to combat the outbreak.
Since The World Health Organization (WHO) alarmed the outbreak of swine flu had moved to level 5 which has reminded people of its wide widespread all over the world and its effect on human’s life. This crisis of outbreak, swine flu or influenza A (H1N1) have been affecting 1,490 human in 21 countries and also other people’s lifestyles and recession around the world.
Although nowadays it hasn’t be identified very clear that how the swine flu or influenza A has been transmitting from human to human, it significantly raised contagion risks from the swine strain. This is because it is the first time in the history that they have found transmission of human to human contact, so it has shocked the people around the world .
After the outbreak of swine flu was spreading out in Mexico, they had been shut down many companies, schools and restaurants for five days to try to stop the dispersal of the virus at the centre of a global health scare, so it make many travelers are upset and it affected to economic in Mexico for ten percent . In order to gain trust back from other countries and rebuild economic, the Mexican government is rushing people to reopen the business and restaurant and declare to Mexican citizens to return to spend their normal lives. This is because they think that the worst of the swine flu outbreak is over.
On the other hand, the US has confirmed the death increase due to the World Health Organization updated the number of global laboratory-confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus to 1,490 infected cases in 21 countries. It can identify unpredictable numbers, which is increasing in every day. Moreover, Mexican Government is still warning people to keep protection, such as wearing a mask and hand-washing.
"This virus is still circulating," said Mexican President Felipe Calderon which totally conflict from their reaction of reopening the business again.
According to the information above, it can be easily tell that this virus has been destroying human life and also economic stability. Moreover, swine flu has taught people of how the confidence suffers have a lot of impact on worldwide economic slowdown. This is because people have loosened trust in their health safety which leads to the decline in demand of tourism. The government worldwide should pay more attention in the this issue by launching a plan to prevent the spreading out of flu such as making a vaccine and allow all citizen in the country to know how to prevent the swine flu and other flu that could be occurred in the future. In addition, the country which has infected people should try to decrease the number of infected by strictly take care of them because if this swine flu still spreading around the world it will cause more economic world problem which could lead to economic falling in coming days.
hey had been shut down many companies, schools and restaurants for five days to try to stop the dispersal of the virus at the centre of a global health scare, so it make many travelers are upset and it affected to economic in Mexico for ten percent . In order to gain trust back from other countries and rebuild economic, the Mexican government is rushing people to reopen the business and restaurant and declare to Mexican citizens to return to spend their normal lives. This is because they think that the worst of the swine flu outbreak is over.
