Mexico confirmed two more deaths from the new H1N1 flu virus yesterday, pushing the country’s toll to 44.
Meanwhile, the virus spread slowly in Europe while China eased quarantine measures.
The Mexican government says the worst is now over and millions of high school and university students returned to classes as the country got back on its feet after shutting public places for five days last week to avoid spreading the disease.
The Netherlands meanwhile confirmed a second case of the virus, in a 53-year-old woman who had been in Mexico.
The United States has 896 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 flu in 41 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Mexico raised its confirmed death toll from the swine flu outbreak to 44 from 42 as results from labs came in regarding people who had died earlier in the outbreak.
H1N1, which has killed a woman and a child in the US but no one else outside Mexico, has reached 24 countries and infected more than 2,000 people, according to data from the World Health Organisation and national authorities. – (Reuters)
Dr Muiris Houston adds: Irish people have been warned not to purchase medicines for treating H1N1 Influenza A on the internet.
The intervention from the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) follows a significant increase in spam e-mail from websites offering anti-viral medicines for online purchase.
Tamiflu and Relenza, the two drugs known to be effective in the treatment of the new strain of flu, are prescription-only medicines and should only be prescribed by a medical doctor registered to practice here.
Commenting on the potential risk to public health, Pat O’Mahony, chief executive of the IMB said “there is a real danger to consumers if sub-standard anti-viral medications are taken as a preventative measure, as it could actually build up a resistance to the genuine drug, which may not work later if required”.