GOVERNMENTS AND health authorities worldwide went on the alert over the weekend for a possible influenza pandemic as the death toll from a new strain of swine flu in Mexico reached 81.
Janet Napolitano, US homeland security secretary, yesterday declared a “public health emergency” in the US as about 20 people there were confirmed to have been infected, though none is seriously ill.
The World Health Organisation declared “a public health emergency of international concern”.
Keiji Fukuda, its assistant director-general for health security, said its emergency committee would decide tomorrow whether to raise the official pandemic threat level above “phase three”, where it has been for several years in response to the threat from H5N1 bird flu in Asia.
A pandemic would seriously harm the prospects of the world economy recovering from recession, with the travel and leisure sectors particularly vulnerable, as the 2003 Sars outbreak showed. Authorities in several Asian countries were yesterday starting to screen travellers at airports and border crossings.
The Mexican authorities declared a state of alert in and around Mexico City, the sprawling capital, with about 20 million inhabitants where the outbreak is centred. They cancelled all public events over the next few days, including ministerial speaking engagements, large-scale meetings, rock concerts in the city and even football matches. The Mexican Football Federation confirmed that yesterday’s two big games in Mexico City would be played before empty terraces.
“We have formally declared a state of sanitary alert,” said José Angel Córdova, Mexico’s health minister, in a press conference on Saturday.
Mr Córdova confirmed that 20 of 81 flu-related deaths reported so far had been caused by the new swine flu virus, which first appeared in Mexico on April 13th. He said it was likely that the remaining 61 cases had also been caused by the virus. There have been 1,324 cases reported in Mexico since the outbreak.
Dr Fukuda warned that much more analysis of Mexican and other samples was required before specialists could say how dangerous the new strain of swine flu was to people.
On the face of it, there seems to be some contradiction between the severity of the Mexican cases and the relative mildness of those in the US. No one in the US has had severe lung disease, as many Mexicans have.
Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive has advised people in Ireland who have travelled to the affected areas and who develop flu-like symptoms to seek medical help. “If you develop an influenza-like illness and have recently returned – within the last 7 days – from Mexico, Texas or California, you should contact your GP,” said Dr Kevin Kelleher, assistant national director of population health with the HSE.
In a statement, Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer of the Department of Health, said that “these events warrant further investigation and require vigilance by our public health authorities.
More investigation is required to determine the severity of the disease and the ease with which it can spread.”
The H1N1 flu virus is known to respond to the main antiviral drugs. The State has stockpiled enough Tamiflu, a drug taken orally, to treat 25 per cent of the population and enough Relenza, an inhaled medication, to treat 20 per cent of the population over the age of seven. – ( Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)