The UK Based Guardian has reported that 16 people have now died in Mexico City as a result of the Swine Flu. A prior blog post here (see April 21 posting below) included the first report of this illness in humans. Two children were affected in Los Angeles earlier this week (and one of these children was reportedly in Dallas after having recovered). The cases in Mexico City are believed to be the first deaths from the Swine Flu - the seven known patients in the US have all recovered.
The full story from the Guardian follows:
Swine flu epidemic kills 16 in Mexico City
Fears of a pandemic rise as authorities close schools and universities in an attempt to control the spread of the virus
An epidemic of a swine flu never identified before has broken out in Mexico City killing at least 16 people so far and raising fears of a pandemic.
All kindergartens, schools and universities in the metropolitan area were closed today in an attempt to control the spread of the virus that authorities say may be linked to a further 45 deaths.
"This is a new virus that we haven't seen before," health minister Jose Angel Cordova said in an interview with MVS radio. "We have taken these measures because this is a virus that has the potential to become a pandemic."
The minister said close to 1,000 cases of infection had been registered so far, mostly in the metropolitan area of 20 million people, although three other Mexican states have also been affected to a lesser degree.
There have also been seven reported cases of the same virus reported in the United States, five in Southern California and two in Texas. All those patients have recovered.
The Mexican minister said the authorities were considering extending the precautions to include shutting down workplaces as well as schools, but for the moment urged employers to be tolerant of absences.
He said that while the situation was "very worrying" he believed the epidemic "is controllable".
The impact of the preventative measures on city life was felt immediately as the population woke up to news of the epidemic that was announced in a late night statement. Radio and TV stations repeated official advice to stay away from crowded places "unless urgently necessary," and to seek medical help at the first sign of the very high fevers and acute respiratory symptoms associated with the illness.
At Mexico City's biggest airport, airlines began requiring passengers checking in for domestic and international flights to fill out forms to help decide who could be at risk of carrying the virus. Anybody deemed to be so was reportedly asked not to fly.
Meanwhile, the media was flooded with questions from city dwellers concerned about everything from the dangers of eating pork to travel on the metro.
Many people heading to work in the morning wore blue surgical face masks, and chemists said their supplies were running out.
The partial shutting down of the metropolis was a dramatic reversal from the government's previous position that minimised the unusual number of flu deaths picked up by the media, saying it was due to an extension of winter.
Cordova said the sudden change of tack happened when samples analysed in highly specialised laboratories in Canada and the US revealed that the virus causing the deaths was a completely different strain.
The Geneva-based World Health Organisation said today that it was concerned about the epidemic and had activated its strategic health operations centre. The agency added that it was in daily contact with US, Canadian, and Mexican authorities
Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
guardian.co.uk
Friday 24 April 2009 17.02 BST
Posted by Scott W. Yates, MD, MBA, MS, FACP
