Deadly flu spreads to Asia, Middle East
Cases confirmed in New Zealand, Israel after officials raise alert level
Governments around the world took steps Tuesday to curb the spread of a new strain of flu that has killed up to 149 people in Mexico as the virus was confirmed in Asia and the Middle East.
No o
ne has died outside Mexico but 50 infected people have been found in the United States, six in Canada and three across the Atlantic in Spain and Scotland, prompting the World Health Organization to raise its alert level for the outbreak.
New Zealand's health minister and an Israeli hospital on Tuesday reported the first confirmed cases of swine flu to hit the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions।
The other case is in Netanya, an Israeli city north of Tel Aviv. Laniado Hospital's medical director said laboratory tests confirm swine flu in a 26-year-old patient who recently returned from Mexico.
A 51-year-old South Korean woman also tested positive for swine flu Tuesday after traveling to Mexico but officials said final tests were still necessary. All 315 others on the same flight from Los Angeles were being tested but none have turned up positive, officials said.
In Asia, financial markets were on edge over the risk the flu could develop into a pandemic and kill off fragile signs of recovery in the global economy.
The number of U.S. cases doubled to 50 early Tuesday, the result of further testing at a New York City school, although none was fatal. Other U.S. cases have been reported in Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. The U.S. also ordered stepped up border checks in neighboring states.
Travel alerts
Governments around the world have taken steps to tighten monitoring of their airports or advised against non-essential travel to Mexico.
Britain, France and Germany issued travel alerts for Mexico. Japan advised its citizens in Mexico to consider returning home soon, saying they might find themselves unable to leave and not be able to get adequate medical care.
The swine flu bug is curable if treated quickly with antiviral medicine but no one is naturally immune. The WHO has lifted its pandemic alert to phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. It also indicates the risk of a deadly global outbreak.
"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.
The virus poses a potentially grave new threat to the U.S. economy, which was showing tentative early signs of a recovery. A widespread outbreak could batter tourism, food and transportation industries, deepening the recession in the U.S. and possibly worldwide.
Putting an alert at phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. That move could lead governments to set trade, travel and other restrictions aimed at limiting its spread.
Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.
The last pandemic, a Hong Kong flu outbreak in 1968, killed about one million people around the world.
'Critical moment'
In Mexico, nearly 2,000 people believed to be infected. Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said the epidemic was entering an extremely dangerous phase, with the number of people infected mushrooming even as authorities desperately ramped up defenses.
"We are in the most critical moment of the epidemic. The number of cases will keep rising, so we have to reinforce preventative measures," Cordova said at a news conference.
Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus amid global fears of a pandemic.
President Barack Obama said the outbreak was reason for concern, but not yet "a cause for alarm."
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that so far the virus in the United States seems less severe than in Mexico. Only one person has been hospitalized in the U.S.
"I wouldn't be overly reassured by that," Besser told reporters at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, raising the possibility of more severe cases in the United States.
"We are taking it seriously and acting aggressively," Besser added. "Until the outbreak has progressed, you really don't know what it's going to do."
U.S. customs officials began checking people entering U.S. territory. Millions of doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile were on their way to states, with priority given to the five already affected and to border states. Federal agencies were conferring with state and international governments.
"We want to make sure that we have equipment where it needs to be, people where they need to be and, most important, information shared at all levels," said Janet Napolitano, head of the Homeland Security Department.
"We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," Napolitano said.
Schools shut
She said travel warnings for trips to Mexico would remain in place as long as swine flu is detected.
Mexico canceled school at all levels nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government said it was considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation, if the death toll keeps rising. Labor Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcon said employers should isolate anyone showing up for work with fever, cough, sore throat or other signs of the flu.
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Amid the warnings, the Mexican government grappled with increasing criticism of its response. At least two weeks after the first swine flu case, the government has yet to say where and how the outbreak began or give details on the victims.
The health department lacked the staff to visit the homes of all those suspected to have died from the disease, Cordova said.
Cordova said 1,995 people have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since the first case of swine flu was reported April 13. The government does not yet know how many were swine flu.
He said tests show a 4-year-old boy contracted the virus before April 2 in 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 half 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 flu in its herd or its employees working anywhere in Mexico.
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The best way to keep the disease from spreading, Besser said, is by taking everyday precautions such as frequent handwashing, covering up coughs and sneezes, and staying away from work or school if not feeling well. He said authorities are not recommending that people wear masks at work because evidence that it is effective "is not that strong."
China, Russia and Ukraine were among countries banning imports of pork and pork products from Mexico and three U.S. states that have reported swine flu cases, while other countries, such as Indonesia, banned all pork imports.
The CDC says people cannot get the flu by eating pork or pork products.
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