June 3, 2009 12:36 PM
- Text
Swine Flu Baffles Health Experts
(CBS/AP)
Mexican authorities said 60 people may have died from a swine flu virus there, and world health officials worry it could unleash a global flu epidemic.
Mexico City closed schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across the metropolis Friday in hopes of containing the outbreak that has sickened more than 1,000.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tests show some of the Mexico victims died from the same new strain of swine flu that sickened eight people in Texas and California. It's a frightening new strain that combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans.
The World Health Organization was looking closely at the 60 deaths - most of them in or near Mexico's capital. It wasn't yet clear what flu they died from, but spokesman Thomas Abraham said "We are very, very concerned."
"We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human," he said. "It's all hands on deck at the moment."
WHO raised its internal alert system Friday, preparing to divert more money and personnel to dealing with the outbreak.
U.S. health officials are watching this outbreak closely. More than 600,000 people cross the U.S.-Mexico border-each day and the eight recent cases in the U.S. have been concentrated in two border states - two near San Antonio, Tex. and six near San Diego Calif, reports CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes.
"Our concern has grown since yesterday in light of what we have learned since then," Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC said Friday.
Normal swine flu transmission is through contact with pigs. U.S. researchers want to know how the American patients, who have all recovered from the disease, got it when none is believed to have had any contact with pigs, Hughes reports.
"This begins to look like a new influenza strain which could cause a lot of mischief around the world," Dr. William Schaffner of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine told Hughes.
Health officials are also concerned that they have discovered the new strain that has killed so many in Mexico is in fact the same strain that sickened people here in the United States.
Still, the outbreak is no cause for panic, said CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, noting that the CDC and WHO have effectively responded to it and that the swine flu seen in recent days is treatable with common - and plentiful - flu medications.
President Felipe Calderon cancelled a trip and met with his Cabinet to coordinate Mexico's response. The government has 500,000 flu vaccines and planned to administer them to health workers, the highest risk group.
There are no vaccines available for the general public in Mexico, and authorities urged people to avoid hospitals unless they had a medical emergency, since hospitals are centers of infection.
Some Mexican residents have started wearing blue surgical masks for extra protection, reports CBS News correspondent Adrienne Bard. The federal health minister has warned people not to go near anyone with a respiratory infection and to avoid kissing - traditional Mexican greeting.
Authorities at Mexico City's international airport were questioning passengers to try to prevent anybody with possible influenza from boarding airplanes and spreading the disease.
But the CDC said Americans need not avoid traveling to Mexico, as long as they take the usual precautions, such as frequent handwashing.
Mexico's Health Secretary, Jose Cordova, said only 16 of the deaths have been confirmed as the new swine flu strain, and that government laboratories were testing samples from 44 other people who died. At least 943 nationwide were sick from the suspected flu, the health department said.
"We certainly have 60 deaths that we can't be sure are from the same virus, but it is probable," Cordova said, adding that samples were sent to the CDC to look for matches with the virus that infected seven people in Texas and California.
Cordova called it a "new, different strain ... that originally came from pigs."
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said "at this point, we do not have any confirmations of swine influenza in Mexico" of the kind that sickened seven California and Texas residents. All seven recovered from symptoms that were like those of the regular flu, mostly involving fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the seven also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.
Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a pandemic, a worldwide spread of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.
The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968.
Nobody can predict when pandemics will happen. Scientists had been concerned about swine flu in 1976, for example, and some 40 million Americans were vaccinated. No flu pandemic ever appeared, but thousands of vaccinated people filed claims saying they'd suffered a paralyzing condition andother side effects from the shots.
In recent years, scientists have been particularly concerned about birds. There have been deaths from bird flu, mostly in Asia, but the virus has so far been unable to spread from person to person easily enough to touch off a pandemic.
Mexico City closed schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across the metropolis Friday in hopes of containing the outbreak that has sickened more than 1,000.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tests show some of the Mexico victims died from the same new strain of swine flu that sickened eight people in Texas and California. It's a frightening new strain that combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans.
The World Health Organization was looking closely at the 60 deaths - most of them in or near Mexico's capital. It wasn't yet clear what flu they died from, but spokesman Thomas Abraham said "We are very, very concerned."
"We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human," he said. "It's all hands on deck at the moment."
WHO raised its internal alert system Friday, preparing to divert more money and personnel to dealing with the outbreak.
U.S. health officials are watching this outbreak closely. More than 600,000 people cross the U.S.-Mexico border-each day and the eight recent cases in the U.S. have been concentrated in two border states - two near San Antonio, Tex. and six near San Diego Calif, reports CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes.
"Our concern has grown since yesterday in light of what we have learned since then," Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC said Friday.
Normal swine flu transmission is through contact with pigs. U.S. researchers want to know how the American patients, who have all recovered from the disease, got it when none is believed to have had any contact with pigs, Hughes reports.
"This begins to look like a new influenza strain which could cause a lot of mischief around the world," Dr. William Schaffner of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine told Hughes.
Health officials are also concerned that they have discovered the new strain that has killed so many in Mexico is in fact the same strain that sickened people here in the United States.
Still, the outbreak is no cause for panic, said CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, noting that the CDC and WHO have effectively responded to it and that the swine flu seen in recent days is treatable with common - and plentiful - flu medications.
President Felipe Calderon cancelled a trip and met with his Cabinet to coordinate Mexico's response. The government has 500,000 flu vaccines and planned to administer them to health workers, the highest risk group.
There are no vaccines available for the general public in Mexico, and authorities urged people to avoid hospitals unless they had a medical emergency, since hospitals are centers of infection.
Some Mexican residents have started wearing blue surgical masks for extra protection, reports CBS News correspondent Adrienne Bard. The federal health minister has warned people not to go near anyone with a respiratory infection and to avoid kissing - traditional Mexican greeting.
Authorities at Mexico City's international airport were questioning passengers to try to prevent anybody with possible influenza from boarding airplanes and spreading the disease.
But the CDC said Americans need not avoid traveling to Mexico, as long as they take the usual precautions, such as frequent handwashing.
Mexico's Health Secretary, Jose Cordova, said only 16 of the deaths have been confirmed as the new swine flu strain, and that government laboratories were testing samples from 44 other people who died. At least 943 nationwide were sick from the suspected flu, the health department said.
"We certainly have 60 deaths that we can't be sure are from the same virus, but it is probable," Cordova said, adding that samples were sent to the CDC to look for matches with the virus that infected seven people in Texas and California.
Cordova called it a "new, different strain ... that originally came from pigs."
Epidemiologists are particularly concerned because the only people killed so far were normally less-vulnerable young people and adults. It's possible that more vulnerable populations - infants and the aged - had been vaccinated against other strains, and that those vaccines may be providing some protection.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said "at this point, we do not have any confirmations of swine influenza in Mexico" of the kind that sickened seven California and Texas residents. All seven recovered from symptoms that were like those of the regular flu, mostly involving fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the seven also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.
Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a pandemic, a worldwide spread of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.
The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968.
Nobody can predict when pandemics will happen. Scientists had been concerned about swine flu in 1976, for example, and some 40 million Americans were vaccinated. No flu pandemic ever appeared, but thousands of vaccinated people filed claims saying they'd suffered a paralyzing condition andother side effects from the shots.
In recent years, scientists have been particularly concerned about birds. There have been deaths from bird flu, mostly in Asia, but the virus has so far been unable to spread from person to person easily enough to touch off a pandemic.
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