Mexico bounces back to life after swine flu

Friday, May 8, 2009 at 2:13 AM Posted by Beijing News


Mexico's schools, bars and cinemas reopened under strict health controls Thursday after the swine flu crisis eased, but world health chiefs warned they had still to get a handle on the epidemic.

High schools and universities reopened in Mexico, the day after offices and restaurants were cleared to restart business after a five-day enforced closure in a bid to contain the outbreak.

"Fortunately, we've managed to stop the dangerous expansion the virus could have had," President Felipe Calderon said during a hospital visit.

However, he added, "it's not time to shout victory," warning there would be more cases.

Hours later, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova announced two more dead and 90 more cases, bringing the total to 44 dead among the 1,160 infected. But the number of cases was on the wane, having peaked last week, he added.

Only two other deaths have been recorded outside Mexico -- both in the United States.

But Keiji Fukuda, acting director-general of the UN's World Health Organisation, warned the AH1N1 viruscould become more virulent later in the year with the onset of the northern hemisphere's flu season.

"It is critical for countries to maintain their alertness and monitoring so this evolution can be followed as closely as possible," he said in a video conference in Bangkok.

"We don't believe we have fully got a handle on the severity of the phenomenon."

The latest WHO figures show 2,099 cases of influenza AH1N1 infections have been reported by 23 countries.

"Complacency is the greatest danger," said Fukuda. "It does appear to be a period where the virus maybe seeding itself in various parts of the world.

"What we are seeing now is milder than in 1918 when up to 50 million people died of the Spanish influenza pandemic. But 1918 started mild in springtime and became more severe in winter."

The emergence of the virus, a new strain that has combined human, swine and bird influenza, set off fears of a worldwide pandemic, even though the death toll has been relatively low.

Countries have imposed a range of measures to prevent a global outbreak, especially hitting the tourism and travel industries.

Restrictions have also been placed on meat imports, not only in Mexico but also Canada and the United States.

Scientists meanwhile stressed the importance of preventing the new swine flu virus from infecting patients already sick with the deadly H5N1 avian flu, particularly in Asia.

"If both viruses wind up in the same individual, they could mix genes and mutate into a form that is both very pathogenic and easily transmitted among humans," John Oxford, a virologist at London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, told AFP.

Officials released 127 people, but kept one who had developed a fever in isolation, the health ministry announced.





Marai

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)