Cyprus-Forum.com

[EPSILON]

By BETSY MCKAY
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Commuters in the subway in Mexico City on Tuesday.
More evidence of the global spread of a deadly flu emerged Tuesday, with new cases reported on four continents and a growing number of people in the U.S. requiring hospital treatment.
Health authorities said they have found possible cases of the new strain of A/H1N1 swine flu in the Middle East and Asia.
In the U.S., the number of confirmed cases rose to 66, including five people in California and Texas being treated at hospitals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments.
The new data indicated the strain was causing more severe illness in the U.S. than originally seen; only one of the first 40 confirmed cases had to be hospitalized. President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Congress for $1.5 billion in additional funds to fight the epidemic, and lawmakers convened for a hearing to evaluate measures taken so far.
Many of the people confirmed with the swine flu outside Mexico were infected on trips to the country, officials said.
There also is evidence of transmission in the U.S.
Officials said 45 people got sick at St. Francis Preparatory School in the New York City borough of Queens after students returned from a trip to Mexico. The 45 ill include several students, staff and relatives who didn't go to Mexico but who may have caught the virus from those who did.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that it was likely additional students had contracted the virus at St. Francis, a private Catholic school with 2,700 students. Hundreds of students, as well as staff, became sick with flu-like symptoms. The city decided against further testing to instead focus its investigation on new clusters of the virus.
New cases of swine flu were suspected among students of two additional schools in New York City, where 44 residents have confirmed cases, Mr. Bloomberg said. About 12 students at P.S. 177, a public school in Queens, are suspected of having the virus.
Swine Flu: Complete Coverage
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In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Tuesday. The measure sets in motion a series of actions, such as requiring all agencies to coordinate with public-health officials, suspending competitive bidding for contracts needed to respond to the outbreak, and waiving certification requirements for laboratories involved in testing.
Public-health officials said they were trying to balance two missions: prepare for the worst possible outcome while avoiding a public panic. The tasks are complicated because they don't know how lethal the virus is.
Many people assume a pandemic is a deadly scourge, but two of three flu pandemics that circled the globe in the 20th century were relatively mild. "Pandemics can range from being relatively mild to being extremely severe," said Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization's acting assistant director for health security and environment. "My own sense right now is it too early to make a call."
Although the WHO raised its pandemic alert to phase 4 from phase 3 on Monday, it has not warned people to curtail travel. Although several countries -- including the U.S. -- issued their own travel advisories for swine-flu-affected countries, such restrictions "would not significantly hamper the movement of this virus," Dr. Fukuda said.
It is impossible to predict how virulent the new strain could become because flu viruses are notoriously fickle and swine-flu viruses in humans are rare, said Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The hospital operates a laboratory that collaborates with the WHO to study animal-flu viruses.
The outbreak disrupted schools across Texas during its week of state standardized testing. Schools in several communities shut down, and others reported high absentee rates.
In Rio Grande City, a short walk from the U.S.-Mexico border, nearly 1,800 students stayed home Tuesday, compared with a normal absent roll of about 150 students, said Superintendent Roel Gonzalez. Many students wore masks to school, and some were apparently suffering flu symptoms. Mr. Gonzalez fielded worried calls from two schools reporting that students had vomited during the state testing.
On the advice of health authorities, Mr. Gonzalez shut down Veterans Middle School for the rest of the week. Two students at the school had unconfirmed but "highly probable" cases of swine flu, according to Jose Vasquez, director of the county health department.

Jung Yeon-je/Reuters
A thermal scanner shows the heat signature of passengers from an international flight arriving at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday.
Dr. Vasquez said a shortage of supplies was hindering efforts to identify cases and make decisions on school closings. In the past 48 hours, he said, 300 patients with flu-like symptoms had arrived for testing.
New Zealand confirmed that 11 people who recently returned from Mexico contracted the virus. They suffered only mild illness and were expected to recover, officials said. Reports of confirmed illness or suspected swine flu also came from Spain, Israel, China and South Korea, among other countries.
Among the measures they are taking to calm the public, U.S. government officials are considering a change to the new disease's current moniker. Swine flu makes some people think they can get the disease from pigs or pork, said acting CDC Director Richard Besser.
"That's not helpful to pork producers. That's not helpful to people who eat pork. It's not helpful to people who are wondering, How can they get this infection?" he said.
Agricultural groups, worried the flu outbreak is scaring away consumers from pork, are prodding the federal government to refer to the virus as H1N1.
—Suzanne Sataline, Jonathan D. Rockoff, Stephanie Simon and Ethan Smith contributed to this article.
Write to Betsy McKay at [email protected]
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A6

[EPSILON]

CNN) -- Governments and health officials around the world continued to take steps Wednesday against the outbreak of swine flu that has killed scores of people in Mexico and spread to the U.S., Europe and possibly Asia.

Five-year-old Edgar Hernandez, known as "patient zero" survived the earliest documented case of swine flu.

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Mexican health officials suspect that the swine flu outbreak has caused more than 159 deaths and roughly 2,500 illnesses.
The World Health Organization says at least 105 cases have been confirmed worldwide, including 64 in the United States; 26 in Mexico; six in Canada; three in New Zealand; and two each in Spain, the United Kingdom and Israel. WHO has confirmed deaths only in Mexico, where seven people have died from swine flu.
In the United States, California, Indiana and Texas also were reporting additional cases not confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, Mexican authorities are focusing on a young boy being referred to as "patient zero" by his doctors -- 5-year-old Edgar Hernandez, who survived the earliest documented case of the swine flu outbreak. Watch a report on "patient zero" »
His family lives in the village of La Gloria in the state of Veracruz, where a flu outbreak was reported on April 2.
Lab tests confirmed that he was the only patient in Veracruz to test positive for the swine flu virus; the others had contracted a common flu. Health officials had returned to Edgar's sample only after cases of the new flu strain were spotted around the country. He has recovered from his symptoms.
The World Health Organization on Monday raised its alert level from three to four on its six-level scale. Read what steps countries are taking
The move means the U.N. agency has determined that the virus is capable of significant human-to-human transmission -- a major step toward a pandemic, but not necessarily inevitable, Dr. Keiji Fukuda said.
"In this age of global travel, where people move around in airplanes so quickly, there is no region to which this virus could not spread," said Fukuda, assistant director-general of the WHO.
Governments around the world scrambled to prevent further outbreak.
Some, like China and Russia, banned pork imports from the United States and Mexico. Several others, such as Japan and Indonesia, used thermographic devices to test the temperature of passengers arriving from Mexico. Watch how China is preparing for a possible outbreak »
WHO ALERT LEVELS
In Phase 1 no viruses among animals reported to have caused infections in humans.

In Phase 2 animal flu virus is known to have caused infection in humans and is potential pandemic threat.

In Phase 3, animal or human-animal flu virus has caused small number of cases in people, but not sufficient for community-level outbreaks.

Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of animal or human-animal flu virus, indicating greater but not inevitable risk of pandemic.

Phase 5 means human-to-human spread of virus is confirmed in two countries in one WHO region and pandemic is feared imminent.

Phase 6 characterized by community-level outbreaks in at least one other country in second WHO region. This phase indicates global pandemic is under way.
The Philippines' health department urged people to avoid kissing and hugging in public.
Argentina announced a five-day ban on flights from Mexico. Four cruise lines -- Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Princess -- canceled upcoming calls to Mexican ports.
U.S. President Barack Obama said the outbreak was a cause for concern, not for alarm. The government urged travelers to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico. Tell us what you think about the swine flu outbreak
About 35,000 public venues in Mexico City were shut down or told to serve only take-out meals Tuesday, as officials try to contain the outbreak.
In addition to ordering restaurants to serve only take-out food, authorities ordered the closing of bars, clubs, movie theaters, pool halls, theaters, gyms, sport centers and convention halls until May 6, said Juan Jose Garcia Ochoa, one of the city government's top officials. Watch denials by Mexicans that the swine flu started in Mexico »
Armed police officers are also guarding hospitals in Mexico City while roads and schools in the city of 20 million people are deserted. Officials also have talked about shutting down the bus and subway systems. Watch
Blue masks shield the faces of mothers and babies from a virus that doctors are still trying to understand, let alone bring under control. Read about what precautions people are taking
"I'm pretty nervous of this whole virus thing," Berta Hernandez said as she touched up her eyeliner inside a packed and humid subway car. She did not dare lift her surgical mask to put on lip gloss.
"I'm nervous of the people who aren't wearing masks. Maybe they will suddenly sneeze or cough," she said.
Some health experts fear the disease could become a pandemic, partly because it has killed young, healthy adults in Mexico. Watch how a flu virus might spread »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued emergency authorization for the use of two of the most common anti-viral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza. The authorization allows the distribution of the drugs by a broader range of health care workers and loosens age limits for their use. The median age of all the U.S. cases is 16 years.
In Mexico City, however, there is a shortage of such medication. And the government ran out of surgical masks after handing them out to one out of every five residents.
Panicked citizens continue to flood in night and day at hospitals, only to be turned away by armed guards.
"I was looking for a mask at my local pharmacy, but they sold out," supermarket worker Rafael Martinez said as he rode the subway. "I know it's a risk, but I can't find one.'
Swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease that usually affects pigs. It is caused by a type-A influenza virus. The current strain is a new variation of an H1N1 virus, which is a mix of human and animal versions. iReport.com: Do you think we should be worried about swine flu?
When the flu spreads person-to-person, instead of from animals to humans, it can continue to mutate, making it harder to treat or fight off because people have no natural immunity.
The symptoms are similar to common flu. They include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Health Library
MayoClinic.com: Influenza (flu)
The virus spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes around another person. People can become infected by touching something with the flu virus on it and then touching their mouth, nose or eyes.
In 1968, a "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people worldwide. And in 1918, a "Spanish" flu pandemic killed as many as 100 million people. Putting those figures into perspective about 36,000 people die from flu-related symptoms each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers do not know how the virus is jumping relatively easily from person to person, or why it is affecting society's healthiest demographic.
"When you think about the flu, the seasonal flu, the flu that we're accustomed to, it typically tends to have the worse ramifications in people that don't have developed immune systems -- the elderly and the very young. They can't fight it off," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent.

"What's counterintuitive with this particular virus, it's in the people who have robust immune systems. As their body starts to respond, to try and fight off that virus, they produce tons of inflammatory cells. Those inflammatory cells can sort of flood the lungs.
"So, in essence, it's not the virus itself that's so problematic, but the body's reaction to it."

[psycho]

This is what I eat when I eat pork:

How the hell do you eat that ashtray

[cyprusgeoff]

The World Health Organisation has warned the first flu pandemic in 40 years is imminent.

Director General Margaret Chan raised the official alert level to phase 5, the last step before a global outbreak is declared, and called for countries to implement emergency plans.

She said the first potential pandemic since the 1968 outbreak of Hong Kong Flu had "the capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world" but added that governments are "better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history."

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