Europeans Urged To Avoid U.S., Mexico

EU Health Official Says Nonessential Travel Should Be Postponed As Outbreak Spreads; First Cases Reported In U.K.

(CBS/AP)  The top EU health official urged Europeans on Monday to postpone nonessential travel to parts of the United States and Mexico because of the swine flu virus, and Spanish health officials confirmed the first case outside North America.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom confirmed its first case of swine flu. Two infected people were said to be recovering in a Scottish hospital after becoming ill following a trip to Mexico. Scotland Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the risk to the British public remained "very low."

The spread of the virus has several countries on alert. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus amid a surging global concern about a possible pandemic.

European and U.S. markets bounced back from early losses as pharmaceutical stocks were lifted by expectations that health authorities will increase stockpiles of anti-viral drugs. The stocks of airlines, hotels and other travel-related companies posted sharper losses.

The virus was suspected in up to 149 deaths in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak with nearly 2,000 cases suspected, while 40 cases - none fatal - were confirmed in the United States and six in Canada, the World Health Organization said.

"Today we've seen increased number of confirmed cases in several countries," WHO spokesman Paul Garwood told The Associated Press. "WHO is very concerned about the number of cases that are appearing, and the fact that more and more cases are appearing in different countries."

President Barack Obama said the threat of spreading infections is cause for concern but "not a cause for alarm."

The WHO set its pandemic alert level at level 3, which means there is an animal virus that occasionally causes human cases but that doesn't spread well between people. If the WHO raises it to 4 or 5, that signals that the swine flu virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading between humans. That move could lead governments to set trade, travel and other restrictions aimed at limiting the disease's spread.

In Luxembourg, European Union Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou urged Europeans to postpone nonessential travel to parts of the United States and Mexico affected by swine flu, toning down earlier comments referring to all of North America.

"I meant a travel advisory, not a travel ban, for travel to Mexico City and those states in the United States where we have outbreaks" of swine flu, he said.

The EU health commissioner only makes recommendations to the 27 member countries; they must make a final decision to set travel advisories through their foreign ministries.

Dr. Richard Besser, acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the EU recommendation was not warranted. "At this point I would not put a travel restriction or recommendation against coming to the United States."

A top German holiday tour operator said it was suspending charter flights to Mexico City.

"These are early days. It's quite clear that there is a potential for this virus to become a pandemic and threaten globally," WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley told AP Television News.

Spain's first swine flu case - confirmed by the WHO - was a young man in the town of Almansa who recently returned from Mexico for university studies and is responding well to treatment, said Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez. Neither the young man nor any of the 20 other people under observation for the virus were in serious condition.

Scotland's health secretary said tests "conclusively" confirmed swine flu in two people recovering in a hospital in Scotland with flu-like symptoms after a trip to Mexico. She did not say whether the tests showed if it was the same strain of flu that has affected Mexico. Calls seeking further information from Scottish officials were not immediately returned.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.

New Zealand was testing 13 students, their parents and teachers who were showing flu-like symptoms after returning from Mexico, said Health Minister Tony Ryall. Israel, France, Brazil, Switzerland and Sweden were also conducting tests.

At Germany's bustling Frankfurt Airport, people suspected of having the disease are being examined before getting off planes, said the health minister for Hesse state, Juergen Banzer. This policy has been in effect since Saturday at continental Europe's second-busiest airport, after Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

Governments in Asia - with potent memories of SARS and avian flu outbreaks - heeded the warning amid global fears of a pandemic.

Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used during the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers arriving from North America. South Korea and Indonesia introduced similar screening.

[COUNTDRINKALOT]

teabagbandit I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER SMITHFIELD HAM AGAIN.THEY DON'T MUCH CARE WHAT THEY EAT(MEX) , WHAT CAN YOU IMAGINE THEY DO TO FOOD FOR AMERICANS? I THINK WE'RE LOOKING AT THE SECOND COMING OF THE SO-CALLED "BLACK PLAGUE.THEY WANT TO CULL OUT THE USELESS EATERS.

[frankinaz]

"Please go back to the minutemen rally and say how the demise of America is being brought on poor Mexicans."
Please excuse me, but this person's original post did not mention any nationality-Not all
illegal immigrants in the U. S. are Mexicans.

[erasmus111]

sorry if i'm stupid, but who's lou dobbs?

Posted by mike18881 at 4:56 PM : Apr 27, 2009

I think he's a guy on CNN.

[TeabagBandit]

some theories pit the epicenter of the outbreak at an american owned company whose massive farm in mexico
by the name of Smithfiield foods in the state of Veracruz. is at fault.
but still no word on wether its official or not.

[mike18881]

sorry if i'm stupid, but who's lou dobbs?

[elpaulito]

Quote:

"Notice how there are more TB outbreaks in the U.S.? That's because illegal aliens are beng allowed to come across our borders. Controlling immigration is not vindictive - it is being smart. The United States used to take precautions when immigrants entered through Ellis Island. Protect your own. There is nothing wrong with that. Now with such a porous southern border we're seeing more and more outbreaks of infectious diseases that we had not seen in decades. Now we have the Swine flu and this Administration thinks that just because a handful of people in U.S. have already been infected that it is no use to close the border. What the heck are they thinking. It is not to late. And if we had proper border to begin with this would not be a problem today."


Ever hear of the peanut salmonella outbreak in GA? Or how about the e-coli outbreak in Seattle? Or the flu outbreak we have every winter? Please go back to the minutemen rally and say how the demise of America is being brought on poor Mexicans.

[dmb35]

Notice how there are more TB outbreaks in the U.S.? That's because illegal aliens are beng allowed to come across our borders. Controlling immigration is not vindictive - it is being smart. The United States used to take precautions when immigrants entered through Ellis Island. Protect your own. There is nothing wrong with that. Now with such a porous southern border we're seeing more and more outbreaks of infectious diseases that we had not seen in decades. Now we have the Swine flu and this Administration thinks that just because a handful of people in U.S. have already been infected that it is no use to close the border. What the heck are they thinking. It is not to late. And if we had proper border to begin with this would not be a problem today.

[dmb35]

It's too bad our own government doesn't put our interests first. They think "passive surveilence" is going to detect anybody infected with the virus as they come here from Mexico. What a joke. Looks like this could be Obama's Katrina.

[ludvig1-2009]

Postpone non-essential travel? A vacation is non-essential travel. Are all the hotels supposed to go bankrupt because no one travels. I'm getting ready to take a drive on the east coast to get my wife caught up in been-to-all-states, so next year we can get #50 Hawaii in together. They can't shut the country down for this. Maybe the reason the virus is getting less deadly is that it is mutating as it makes it way along to become less deadly, so that it don't put itself out of business. I mean if the virus was 100% deadly, it could not exist as it would have no hosts.

[rrozsa]

I feel pretty safe in my part of the country. If the swine flu hits the US, it will likely be attracted to Washington, what with all the pork and all.....

[stn_sage]

Well, when it comes to pandemics or massive epidemics, unfortunately it's every nation thinking
about it's own best interests first!

But, it's just as likely that this virus will be released over there, too. So, whether Europeans travel over to North America or not, to potentially be exposed to it, is a mute point!

[credibility2]

Napolitano's press conference just now was full of tap dancing and gaffs. For one her answer to a media question essentially said we can't close down borders because we've already allowed the disease in. She was clueless about the incubation period of those unaware that they might possibly be now infected and how this might translate into greater numbers of infected. This is the same moron who did nothing for her state of Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina, before, during or after, except complain about the slow response of the government. She took no responsibility whatsoever for her laxity and stupidity in not being prepared for the disaster. Now, we're supposed to trust her. Yeah, right.

[credibility2]

The EU and Asia are more prudent and cautionary, and aren't fear-mongering. Because of the exponential aspect of reported cases throughout the world and the fact that the epicenter is in Mexico, non-essential travel to this country should be canceled. I doubt if Mexican officials are being truthful with the severity of this. If it's no big deal, explain why the Mexican government has taken such draconian measures to try and curtail and large group congregating. Our own health officials are already cautioning that the number of infected will rise. We're not prepared for any type of serious outbreak and individual major urban areas aren't prepared, either. I live in an area that has major Mexican populations, mostly illegal since my state is a sanctuary state and they'd rather pander to criminal illegal aliens, and it's just a matter of time before the numbers start getting reported of cases. Just what we need, criminal illegals clogging up hospital emergency rooms and denying medical coverage from citizens and those legally documented, both of which deserve and are entitled to these services; illegals should be treated last.

[toldyouso29]

3 things are guaranteed:

1. That the virus has already circumnavigated the globe.

2. That those in countries whose demographics have a high incidence of TB or other immuno-compromising diseases are the most at risk to die (Mexico has one of the highest incidences of TB in the Western world.

3. That at his time, politicians and beaurocrats will continue to knee jerk and over react as they lurch from one self induced crisis (economic, war, ecological) or another--in the hopes that the latest 'scare' will deflect from their incompetence and corruption.

during Bush--we had terrorism color codes and the avian flu...Obama kept that arsenal and now has a human/avian/swine/ combo flu. Same stuff.

this flu is new and should merit attention--but it should not merit panic or overreaction. flu's kill the weak--check to see if the majority of the dead in Mexico were immuno-suppressed or had TB. That would explain the varied morbidity rate.

[jonesjep]

"Looks like itt's Obama's fault!"
.............................................

YEP!! Its almost May. It is time for something to be Obama's fault.

The media has been quick to blame US guns for Mexican crime so lets see if they will blame Mexico for the US losing tourist dollars?

[architekker-2009]

Looks like itt's Obama's fault!

[jonesjep]

I thought the EU was our friend now? With friends like these.....

[toldyouso29]

More than likely, this new strain is a product of Asia. Viruses do not just form, in a process of trial and error they may cross species when certain factors are present.

For instance, swine and avian flus are specie specific, but both swine and avian flus can, on rare occasion combine with humans. so where swine and avian would rarely if ever combine, swine-human might easily combine with an avian-human strain and thereby create what they say this is--swine-avian-human. But the origin would have had to have been a human resevoir that already had avian-human flus and swine-human flus.

Almost all nations with swine had the human-swine combo--but few nations had the avian-human combo--it took those 2 COMBOC and the factor that both had a mutual species (the human part) andtrial and error and TIME--to create this perfect viral storm.

the god news is that right now, the virus has a very low morbidity rate. The bad news is--that virus never stop mutating and improving their genetic code and conceivably, sooner or later a more virulent strain can exist.

the other bad news is that antibiotics do not work against viruses and the influenza virus can recombine and mutate thousands if not hundreds of thousands of times--we can't make vaccines for all mutations. The other bad news is that due to super bugs, more and more, antibiotics do not work against secondary infections, particularly in poor countries were resistant bacteria are prevalent.

Usually, it is the secondary infections (pneumonia, bronchitis, heart lining inflammation, etc) that kills people, and usually people with compromised immune systems like diabetics.

[toldyouso29]

The paradox of a younger population there dying from this new flu may well be from impaired immune systems in a younger age group. The cost of vitamin C in Mexico is double or triple the cost in the United States. It is way to expensive for the average Mexican.
Posted by andylance1 at 9:38 AM : Apr 27, 2009


what exactly do you think vitamin C could do in the face of a newly mutated, non antibody recognized virus that has formed of human, pig and avian strains? Such combinations tend to have relatively high morbidity rates initially, but over time, the viruses tend to become less virulent as they adapt to the new hosts. I agree with you that a strong immunity system is important and vitamin C can boost some aspects of immunity but given the mutation here, it is doubtful that stronger immune systems would have been effective since even strong immune systems must initiate antigen responses to release antibodies--and in a new strain, no such response could exist as the immune system would have had no reference point for it.

As for blaming Mexicans--that is silly. In a transient world--anyone from anywhere could be patient zero or a carrier--I suspect possibly an Asian business person...perhaps a carrier? Because this new strain not only infected swine, but also had the components of avian combined with human as a strain--this indicates an etiology of previous combining between avian/humans or avian influenza then swine.

Could have come from anywhere.

[andylance1]

A pox on the EU for issuing a travel advisory against travel to the United States and Mexico. Just look at the huge number of people who have died in the US from this terrible disease - ZERO.

Matt Drudge is the biggest source of fear concerning this terrible Panico of 2009. It fits right into his right wing phobia of Mexicans. He is a victim of the Lou Dobbs disease.

Metro Mexico City has a population of over 22 million people. The city suffers from overcrowding, water and air pollution and a poor health care delivery system.

The paradox of a younger population there dying from this new flu may well be from impaired immune systems in a younger age group. The cost of vitamin C in Mexico is double or triple the cost in the United States. It is way to expensive for the average Mexican.