SWINE FLU OUTBREAKHUNDREDS OF New York schoolchildren were reported to have fallen sick with suspected swine flu, the city's health commissioner said last night, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on all governments to prepare for a pandemic.
The possible infection of large numbers of children in the city would be evidence of human-to-human transmission of the disease outside the source of the epidemic, Mexico. A group of children from a New York school who visited the country recently may have spread the illness to other children since their return.
Last night Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, declared a state of emergency there after reports of a possible swine flu death – which would be the first outside Mexico – and the confirmation of 13 cases of the illness.
A further increase in the pandemic threat level appeared to be the likely response to the numbers of confirmed infections rising on three continents. The WHO warned that if the disease takes hold across the globe it could be a disaster for the world’s poorest countries.
The number of confirmed cases continued to rise across the world to more than 90 outside Mexico. Yesterday there were 11 new confirmations of the disease in New Zealand and two in Israel, all among people who recently travelled to Mexico. A second case was confirmed in Spain.
Suspected infections are being investigated in Brazil, Guatemala and Peru, all countries that would struggle to cope with a large-scale swine flu outbreak.
Scottish newlyweds Iain and Dawn Askham were named yesterday as the UK’s first and so far only confirmed cases. Four days after returning from their honeymoon at a holiday resort in Cancun, Mexico, they found themselves yesterday in Scotland’s main infection diseases isolation unit.
The Mexican authorities said yesterday that three more people there died of swine flu on Monday, bringing the toll to 152.
Mexico City’s mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, ordered the closure of gyms, sports clubs and swimming pools. Schools, theatres and many other public places are shut and the city authorities are considering closing the extensive underground system.
Mexicans stripped supermarket shelves bare yesterday, prompted by growing concerns that the outbreak could result in a nationwide curfew.
Dr Keiji Fukuda, the WHO assistant director general for health security, said that while the organisation continued to say that a pandemic was not inevitable, the rising number of infections meant that governments should plan for the worst.
“Countries should take this opportunity to really prepare themselves for the possibility of a pandemic,” he said.
The number of confirmed infections in the US, the largest outside Mexico, rose to 65 with new cases in Indiana and New Jersey. A firm in New York’s financial district also reported that one of its workers had contracted the disease.
The US homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, said: “We anticipate that there will be confirmed cases in more states in the coming days.”
But while the latest confirmations were in developed nations, Dr Fukuda warned that the greatest threat is to poorest countries: “We know from history . . . that the poorer countries are the ones who really get hit the hardest, they are really hit disproportionately hard, and they also have the least resources to deal with these kind of situations.”
Although the flu season is passing in the northern hemisphere, the onset of winter in southern Africa and parts of South America means that the impact of any pandemic could be particularly severe on countries with fragile health services.– (Guardian service)