Global Arab Network | Swine flu puts Mexico on high alert

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Swine flu puts Mexico on high alert

Global Arab Network - - Adam Turner

Wednesday, 29 April 2009 08:43

Mexico says up to 159 people may have died from swine flu, with 26 cases confirmed, as the number of countries reporting confirmed cases increased. Mexican authorities have put the nation's capital on high alert, ordered restaurants to serve only takeaway food and shut schools as investigators continue to search for the origin of the disease.

Jose Cordova, Mexico's health minister, said on Tuesday that 2,498 suspected cases of swine flu had been reported, with more than half the patients still in hospital.

Cordova said the authorities were using rapid testing methods to generally rule out other types of flu and begin anti-viral treatment, since tests to definitively determine swine flu are time consuming. (AljazeeraTV)

Franc Contreras, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Mexico City, said: "People are feeling confusion because of different flu figures coming from the federal government on the one hand, and the city government on the other.

"And if you listen to government figures, they say the number of cases are begining to level off.

"But health officials across Mexico will tell you they're swamped and that their own teams have begun to get sick now."

Second swine flu case in Israel

Israel has confirmed its second case of swine flu, in a 47-year-old man who recently returned from Mexico.

The man is in Meir hospital in the town of Kfar Saba, where he presented complaining of a sore throat.

Tests earlier also showed a young man recently returned from Mexico had contracted the virus. He is in Laniado hospital in Netanya.

Mexico Flu Kills 154

SWINE FLU FACTS:

- Swine flu is a respiratory disease thought to spread through coughing and sneezing

- Good hygiene like using a tissue and washing hands thoroughly can help reduce transmission

- The virus tends to infect large numbers of a given pig population, killing between one and four per cent of those affected, the WHO says. Not every animal infected displays symptoms.

- Swine flu normally only infects pigs, but the virus can cross the species barrier and infect humans, the WHO says.

People can catch the virus through contact with infected pigs, though there have been limited instances of human-to-human transmission.

- Symptoms are similar to those of human strains of the seasonal influenza virus, including fever, cough sore throat and body aches.

But the symptoms can also include severe pneumonia that can result in death, the WHO says.

- Swine flu is considered endemic in the United States, though outbreaks in pigs have also been reported elsewhere in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and in parts of eastern Asia.

- If the virus establishes efficient human-to-human transmission, it can cause a pandemic, the WHO says.

Health officials say the swine flu might develop into a form easily spread among humans by combining with a human flu virus or mutate on its own into a transmissible form.

But Dr Laurence Gerlis, an expert on infectious diseases, told Al Jazeera it is too early to call the outbreak a pandemic.

"If you have got an epidemic that affects several countries in the world then it becomes a pandemic.

"But at the moment it is a problem in Mexico and people who have travelled to Mexico have carried it elsewhere. We have to assess it on an hour-by-hour basis."

- Properly handled and prepared pork products are safe to eat, according to the WHO. The swine flu virus is killed when cooked at temperatures of 160 F/70 C or higher.

Global Arab Network

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