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Source: Reuters -
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Fears of a global swine flu pandemic are growing with new infections in the United States and Canada, but in NZ officials are confident it will be better controlled than in Mexico.
The death toll in Mexico from an outbreak of a new type of swine flu has risen to 103 people.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told Mexican television that around 400 people were in hospital out of a total of around 1,600 suspected cases.
While deaths have been limited to Mexico, the flu is spreading with 20 cases in the United States and six in Canada, 10 possible cases in New Zealand and others as far afield as Europe, and Israel.
Offering hope in Mexico, President Felipe Calderon said most of the roughly 1,600 people in the country suspected of having the flu have been given a clean bill of health and sent home.
In New Zealand, health authorities are tracing passengers from Air New Zealand flight NZ1, which arrived from Los Angeles at 5am on Saturday. NZ1 carried a group from Rangitoto College, 10 of whom have been confirmed as having Influenza A.
Their test results are en route to Melbourne for further analysis.
Director of Public Health Dr Mark Jacobs says the swine flu virus, in the same family as the Influenza A strain, is no more infectious than other strains and unlikely to spread throughout the plane.
"In general, the risk would be more for people sitting nearby."
Standard airline cleaning is likely to be effective in preventing the spread of such a virus to future passengers on the same plane.
A group of students from Northcote College are also being monitored for suspected infection.
The group returned from Mexico on another Air New Zealand flight over the weekend and Pandemic Planning Co-ordinator Steve Brazier says three of the 14 students are symptomatic and have been tested.
New Zealanders who have travelled to Mexico or North America in the last fortnight have been told to contact Healthline (0800 611 116) for information regarding the situation. They should seek medical advice if they are displaying flu-like symptoms.
Global impact
Nervousness about the outbreak knocked the dollar to its lowest level in a month against the yen, however, as traders in Asia fled into alternative currencies like the yen and the Swiss franc. The Mexican peso also weakened and oil prices fell as the weekend news sunk in.
The United States declared a public health emergency and a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said she feared there would be deaths in the United States as the new strain of flu spreads.
The Mexican capital, one of the world's biggest cities, slowed to a snail's pace as millions of residents stayed at home, fearing infection. Many who ventured out wore masks and some companies asked employees to work from home on Monday.
"This is the first time I've left the house in two days. I had to get some air," said Juan Casiano, a 39-year-old office worker, walking briskly through a city park.
The Roman Catholic faithful listened to mass on the radio rather than go to church, and baptisms and confirmations were canceled. Professional soccer games were played in empty stadiums, bars were closed and cyclists stayed off the road in the normally chaotic city of 20 million people.
Mexico's retail and leisure sector faces a hole in takings as shoppers and diners stay home next week. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebard said public closures could last 10 days.
Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said the flu's impact would be "transitory," but the peso, already weakened by the economic crisis, fell nearly 3% in electronic trading on Sunday night as traders reacted to the scale of the crisis.
The World Health Organisation has declared the flu a "public health emergency of international concern" that could become a pandemic, or global outbreak of serious disease.
A pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already suffering its worst crisis in decades, and experts say it could cost trillions of dollars.
A 1968 Hong Kong flu pandemic killed about one million people globally.
US deaths expected
Mexico did not raise its death count on Sunday, but there were worries that fatalities could surface elsewhere.
"I do fear that we will have deaths," the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said. Officials were readying for the flu's possible spread beyond the 20 cases confirmed in the United States.
Eight schoolchildren in New York were confirmed as having caught the swine flu virus, although like other cases reported outside Mexico their illness was relatively mild.
Officials said they would release a quarter of the US stockpile of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu, made by Roche AG, and Relenza, from GlaxoSmithKline. Both have been shown to be effective against the new swine flu.
Flu is characterised by a sudden fever, muscle aches, sore throat and dry cough. Victims of the new strain have also suffered more vomiting and diarrhea than is usual with flu.
Although it is called "swine flu" there is no evidence any of the cases stemmed from contact with pigs.
Health officials could not say why deaths have only occurred in Mexico. "I think right now it is really premature to say the disease is different in Mexico from here," Schuchat said.
The outbreak has snowballed into a major headache for Mexico, already grappling with a violent drug war and an economic slowdown. It has become one of the biggest global health scares in years.
Mexico said it has $450,000 available to fight the flu and the World Bank offered $205 million in loans.
"It's very frustrating. If you go out, you get mugged - or you get some weird virus," complained Cynthia Gonzalez, 32, a sales manager who spent most of the weekend at home.
"We wanted to go out but we have a baby so we wanted to be sure
it was safe. The doctor said it was OK as long as we're not in
enclosed spaces or with infected people."
TVNZ is all over the swine flu story. Keep up to date with
the latest news no matter where you are with our dedicated swine
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http://twitter.com/SwineFluNZNews
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Add a Comment:
Post new commentalwyn said on 2009-06-18 @ 14:34 NZDT: Report abusive post
The general flu causes between 200,000 and 250,000 deaths p.a world wide. Swine flu has caused only a fraction of this number in proportion. There is a temporary cure i.e. Tami flu until a vaccine is produced for H1N1 flu. I don't understand what all the fuss is about?
Janey said on 2009-06-16 @ 09:36 NZDT: Report abusive post
I think NZ media and health service has been far too blase about this outbreak. The UK's BBC news website has been reporting symptoms and PREVENTION for weeks and has an excellent outbreak map, which clearly shows quick acceleration of the virus. The UK's health service posted information leaflets to every home WEEKS ago. My husband works in a a business where the workers come into contact with lots tourists - they only just received a booklet on the virus 2 days ago. NZ, get with the programme!
skeptic said on 2009-06-16 @ 07:57 NZDT: Report abusive post
Thank you Mark Sainsbury for telling us the symptoms, and debunking the mythology. Many of us did not even know that we probably have the swine flu which is probably now widespread in our community. It was clear from the outset that authorities were not taking the drastic steps necessary to contain an epidemic. Since they have created an elaborate ritual to prove that they have done everything possible ... Thank God this was not a SERIOUS pandemic.
FightFlu said on 2009-05-04 @ 23:41 NZDT: Report abusive post
I absolutely agree Tis, this particular virus could have been a lot worse. Due to information technology these days we have highly accessible and up to date information to keep us informed, and with knowledge is power. As long as the people remain calm, and keep informed we should be able to keep the Swine Flu at a safe distance.
Tis said on 2009-05-02 @ 11:33 NZDT: Report abusive post
This scare could perhaps prepare us well for a more severe future pandemic - e.g. Ok, so all the focus is on Tamiflu - but what about ensuring enough antibiotics to treat secondary infections from a new influenca - and do we have enough of those machines in hospitals to help people breath when they are in acute respiratory distress - lets hope so!