WHO warns against flu complacency

*Green = my opinion*

Post : 4 May 2009
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8032094.stm

The World Health Organization says countries must not lower their guard in the response to the swine flu outbreak.


Almost 900 cases had been confirmed across five continents, the WHO said, and authorities had to remain vigilant.


Viruses increased and decreased in activity, it said, and it was too early to tell whether the outbreak had peaked where it emerged in Mexico.


The warning came after health officials in Mexico said that cases of the virus appeared to be declining.


In Mexico, just over 100 people are thought to have died from the swine flu strain, although only 22 cases have been confirmed.


But on Sunday Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said that the virus appeared to have peaked between 23-28 April.


"The evolution of the epidemic is now in its declining phase," he told a news conference.


The WHO said authorities should remain on alert.


The current "round of activity" might have peaked, WHO official Gregory Hartl said, but that did not mean it was over.


"There is a high possibility that this virus will come back, especially in colder periods," he said.


Health experts in the US, meanwhile, say swine flu could soon be present throughout their country, as cases have been confirmed in more than half of all states.


Outside Mexico, the effects of the virus do not appear to be severe.


In other developments:


• Mexican President Felipe Calderon accused unspecified countries of "taking discriminatory measures because of ignorance", amid a row with China over the quarantine of 70 Mexicans in three Chinese cities


• El Salvador says it has confirmed its first two cases of the virus, AFP reports, citing the country's health minister

• Egypt says it will continue slaughtering pigs as a precaution against swine flu, following clashes on Sunday with farmers that left 12 people injured ( I strongly disagree with the action because there’s no evidence that a pig is a contagion, so far.)


'Widespread'


Late on Sunday - before the apparent confirmation from El Salvador - the WHO said it had found 898 cases of the virus across 18 countries.


Person-to-person transmission has been confirmed in six countries. (A British man becomes the first person confirmed with the disease by person-to-person infection.)


In the US, the number of confirmed cases rose from 160 to 244. Officials said this was because the results of lab tests were now coming through, rather than because of a new surge in cases.


But an expert from America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus was fairly widespread.


"Virtually all of the United States probably has this virus circulating now," Dr Anne Schuchat said. "That doesn't mean that everybody's infected, but within the communities, the virus has arrived."


She said she expected cases to become more severe and to lead to deaths. She stressed that this in itself would not be unusual as every year 36,000 people die in the US after contracting seasonal flu.


WHO food safety scientist Peter Ben Embarek, meanwhile, said increased surveillance was necessary after the virus was found to have infected pigs in Canada. But he said there was no recommendation to cull animals, and pork remained safe to eat. "From a consumer point of view there is no risk from consuming cooked pork products," he said.

Mexico City waits to reopen as flu fears ease

Post : 5 May 2009
By : CNN's Karl Penhaul in Mexico City, John Vause in Beijing,
Diana Magnay in Geneva, Switzerland, and Saeed Ahmed and
Nicole Saidi in Atlanta, Georgia, contributed to this report.
Source : http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/05/swine.flu.main
/index.html?iref=newssearch


MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Residents in Mexico City restlessly waited for life to return to normal Tuesday as officials from both Mexico and the United States said the worst may be over in the swine flu outbreak. (After the official places and business in the city were closed since last Friday, the outbreak seems to be decreasing among Mexican.)


Roberto Arcuate arrives Tuesday at the Mexican Embassy in Beijing as Mexico starts to pick up dozens of nationals.


The number of confirmed swine flu cases worldwide stands at 1,117 Tuesday with 26 deaths, according to figures from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The WHO's number of cases is seven higher than the CDC figure.


Twenty-five people died of the virus in Mexico and one in the United States. The world body said the virus, scientifically known as the Influenza A (H1N1), has been confirmed in 21 countries.


Mexican officials, citing improvement in the battle against the virus, announced plans to reopen government offices and restaurants on Wednesday -- and museums, libraries and churches the following day.


U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano acknowledged claims by Mexican authorities who believe their cases have peaked. "I have no reason to think that is inaccurate," Napolitano said.


"What the epidemiologists are seeing now with this particular strain of H1N1 is that the severity of the disease, the severity of the flu -- how sick you get -- is not stronger than regular seasonal flu."


But officials from WHO and the CDC plan to monitor developments in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season arrives over the next few months as winter begins there.


Those results will help determine whether a stronger strain of the virus will return to the United States and the Northern Hemisphere during the fall flu season.


Mexican officials ordered a wide-ranging shutdown of Mexico City last week. The weeklong closure encompasses the Cinco de Mayo holiday Tuesday.


University and secondary school students can return to class Thursday, while younger students will wait until Monday.


Other public venues in the city such as bars, nightclubs, theaters and sports stadiums will remain closed indefinitely. (Great reaction for this situation, I suppose. More concerned about life of human than business is a great action that many powerful nations should follow the idea.)


In all, about 35,000 public venues were shut down, transforming the bustling metropolis of 20 million people into a ghost town overnight.


Soccer games were postponed, restaurants only served takeout, and Sunday Mass -- which usually draws millions of worshippers -- was canceled.


"It's surreal to say the least. And the masks add to that," said Cristiano Oliveira, a Brazilian living in Mexico City for the last year and a half. "There was, to me, at least the impression that Mexico City would never slow down. And now it's halted."


In the city's Condesa neighborhood, Alfredo Sono Dillman whiled away the days watching movies on a home computer.


"We all live inside our houses because the schools have been canceled until May 11," Alfredo, 15, said. "I'm not scared like last week. This week has been easier. Now we know much better what is going on."


Doctors at the Mexico City Naval Hospital offered similar optimism. The hospital has examined more than 2,000 patients since Wednesday. None of them tested positive for swine flu, Dr. Manuel Velasco said.


"That may mean the virus is stabilizing and then can be totally controlled," Velasco said. "But we have to wait for the new week to begin."(I agree)


Early Tuesday, the Mexican and Chinese government sent chartered flights to each other's countries to pick up their respective nationals stranded or quarantined because of the global swine flu outbreak.


An Aeromexico flight was making several stops throughout China to collect nearly 70 Mexican citizens who were being held in quarantine across the communist nation as part of its strict swine flu-control measures.


Meanwhile, a U.S. Embassy official said four Americans are or were quarantined in China: two in Beijing and two in the southern Guangdong province.


China suspended all flights into and out of Mexico after a 25-year-old Mexican man who arrived Thursday in Shanghai from Mexico City became the Asian country's first confirmed case of the virus.


As a result, 200 Chinese citizens were stranded in Mexico City and Tijuana. A China Southern Airlines flight was expected to fetch them Tuesday, state media said.


WHO officials said there were no immediate plans to raise its pandemic alert to the highest level, from 5 to 6. In the United States, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said she was "heartened" by the reports in Mexico.


But because U.S. cases began later than those in Mexico, the peak likely will come later in the United States.


By early Tuesday, 279 cases have tested positive in 36 U.S. states, according to the CDC's latest count. Several states have announced additional confirmed cases, but those were not included in the CDC total.


New York has the most U.S. cases, with 73 confirmed by the CDC and another 17 confirmed by state health officials.


The St. Francis Preparatory School in New York -- which had the first confirmed U.S. cases of swine flu -- reopened Monday with a "completely sanitized" interior for students, school officials said.


More than 530 schools have been closed nationwide because of the outbreak, affecting about 330,000 students in 24 states, the U.S. Department of Education said Monday.

Flu-hit Mexico awaits return to business as usual

Post : 5 May 2009 at 08:56 PM

By : AFP
Source : http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/142441/flu-
hit-mexico-awaits-return-to-business-as-usual

Mexico eagerly awaited the resumption of normal business at the end of a five-day swine flu nationwide shutdown on Tuesday and launched an operation to airlift home nationals quarantined in China.


As President Felipe Calderon said Mexico's response to the epidemic had saved "thousands of lives," the UN's top world health official said the number of people to have contracted the virus in 21 countries had topped 1,000.


And the third case of infection in Asia was confirmed when a nun tested positive in South Korea despite having not been to Mexico.


Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak, has been eerily quiet since Friday after Calderon urged everyone to stay at home over a five-day holiday weekend.


However the president, in a televised address on Monday night, said it was coming to the point where the country could start returning to normal.


Mexico "has taken the lead in the global battles against the virus ... thousands of lives have been saved not only in Mexico but in the world" as a result of his government's containment measures, he said. (Mexico takes responsibility in restraint of Swine flu outbreak by shutdown almost every business and government offices in the city.)


Starting on Wednesday, Mexico would progressively return to normal activities by reopening its businesses, schools, museums and other venues closed for a week or more in its clampdown on the A(H1N1) outbreak, Calderon explained.


"At last," said Ana Maria Rodriguez, a teacher from Mexico City. "We live in the capital, we're not used to being cooped up at home."


Calderon warned against complacency as "this virus is still circulating", and urged people to take precautions such as regular hand-washing. (Surveillance should be continually arranged in case of returning of the outbreak.)


And in a sign of the continued wariness, Mexico's football federation said the last nine matches of the championship would be played behind closed doors.


The UN's World Health Organization (WHO) has reported a total of 1,085 cases worldwide and 26 deaths -- 25 of them in Mexico and one in the United States. Mexico puts its death toll at 26.


"In this situation, it's critical that we continue to maintain and strengthen our alert and surveillance," said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's acting director-general.


The WHO raised its alert level to level five last Wednesday, which indicates a pandemic is imminent, and the organization’s chief Margaret Chan again raised the prospect of it being increased to the maximum of six. (More and stronger reaction to deal with Swine flu outbreak was occurred; Mexico and United Stage ordered to close their school.)


"We don't know how long we have till we move to phase six. Six indicates we are in a pandemic. We are not there yet," she said.


The organization said it had begun sending some 2.4 million courses of anti-viral Tamiflu drugs to 72 countries including Mexico, in an effort to combat the swine flu virus outbreak.


Asia's first person-to-person swine flu infection was confirmed by officials in South Korea, who said a nun had caught the disease from her colleague.


Tests revealed the 44-year-old woman, who had not travelled to Mexico, was infected with influenza A(H1N1), the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDCP) said.


In China, the centre of the 2003 SARS outbreak has come under diplomatic pressure over its hardline efforts to halt the disease in its tracks, including a ban on imported pork from areas hit by swine flu. (It could lead to be a financial problem for the exported pork countries.)


Although no cases have been recorded on the Chinese mainland, dozens of Mexicans have been quarantined across the country but are now set to fly home as part of a repatriation deal between the two governments.


A chartered AeroMexico airliner landed at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport and was also to pick up other stranded Mexicans from Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.


In Hong Kong, the scene of Asia's first confirmed swine flu case, chief executive Donald Tsang apologized to guests quarantined in a city hotel for seven days, while defending the decision to isolate them.


Beijing meanwhile has sent a chartered plane to Mexico to fetch 200 of its own citizens stranded by the flu crisis there, China Southern Airlines said.


Mexican travelers held at a Beijing hotel said they were told by their embassy to be ready to leave Tuesday, ending an enforced isolation that Mexico charged was unfairly targeting its citizens.


"We were told to be ready to go. We are just awaiting word," Gustavo Carrillo, a Mexican businessman, told AFP.

My Reaction - How the world deals with Swine Flu outbreak

My reaction: After the Swine Flu outbreak, every country cooperates with each other in order to reducing the number of infection in world’ population. This is a huge challenge of all earthman.

1. As the original of Swine Flu, Mexico, government ordered to close government office and business; school, museum, restaurant, public venues etc. for 5 days in order to cut off number of spreading out and infection of Swine Flu.


2. China, as experienced country with SARS in 2003, has quarantined tourists who come from the countries that have been reporting as an infected area. Moreover it refuses to import pork from those countries.


3. Mexican and Chinese were sent back to their home town as part of the repatriation deal between the two governments.


4. In United States, more than 500 schools have been closing especially in New York where the highest number of confirmed case was found. But they plan to reopen those schools in this week after clear with sanitary system.


5. WHO raised alert level to level five last week after person-to-person infected case was found. The organization sent some 2.4 million courses of anti-viral Tamiflu drugs to every country for battle with Swine Flu.


6. Hong Kong has quarantined tourists who may infect Swine Flu in the hotel for a week. This action will isolate people who got infection from other, after there’s the first confirmed disease in Hong Kong.


7. Every country has set Thermo scan machine in their airport which is the primary surveillance for every visitor.

Conclusion

Conclusion: Human beings are awaked by disease crisis again. Swine Flu or in another name, Mexican influenza, is now spreading out into 6 continents which cause the number of confirmed Swine Flu case hits 1,117 worldwide so far. Government in each country is trying to restrain and limit the infection by devise a preventive plan against Swine Flu.


Since the infection was originated, it has been killing 26 people. All are Mexican. World Health Organization (WHO) is very concern about the situation. Look back at the history, there are many people died cause from influenza especially Spanish flu which killed about 70 to 100 million people worldwide. Seriously, Spanish flu and Swine flu come from the same root that is influenza A virus subtype H1N1, also known as A(H1N1). The entire world is nervous with latest influenza because they do not want to live in the world of epidemic.


While the entire world concerns about Swine Flu, WHO tested the antivirus and begun sending anti-viral Tamiflu drug to every country. Hopefully, the vaccine would be released in June in order to end the number of infection.


The preventive plans against Swine Flu seem to be success after the number of confirmed case is stopping at the same number. Anyway, the surveillance system should be continue in every country and beware for the returning of the disease. "In this situation, it's critical that we continue to maintain and strengthen our alert and surveillance," said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's acting director-general.