Texas, the first U.S. death in the current outbreak and the first
reported outside Mexico.
The flu death was confirmed Wednesday by Dr. Richard Besser, acting
director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an
interview with CNN. Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Houston Health
and Human Services Department, said Wednesday that the child had
traveled with family from Mexico to Brownsville in south Texas. She said
the child became ill in Brownsville and was taken to a Houston hospital
and died Monday night.
In the U.S., the number of confirmed cases rose to 66 Tuesday, including
five people in California and Texas being treated at hospitals,
according to the CDC and state health departments. The new data
indicated the strain was causing more severe illness in the U.S. than
originally seen; only one of the first 40 confirmed cases had to be
hospitalized.
Many Americans with swine flu probably contracted the virus during
travel to Mexico. However, there is also clear evidence of spread of
the virus from person to person in the U.S. In New York City, students
who returned from a trip to Mexico have become ill. But the 45
confirmed cases also include several students, staff and relatives who
didn't go to Mexico but who appear to have caught the virus from those
who did.
Confirmed Cases
United States - 91
Mexico - 26
Canada - 6
New Zealand - 3
United Kingdom - 2
Israel - 2
Spain - 2
Deaths
Mexico - 7
United States - 1
It is not known why cases in Mexico have been severe, while cases
elsewhere have been mild.
There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of
well-cooked pork and pork products.
Vaccine Availability
Any effort to develop and distribute a vaccine is likely to be met with
a delay of approximately 4 months. Sanofi aventis, one of the world's
largest vaccine makers, is waiting for the WHO and the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control to pick the strain of the swine-flu virus that would
best work in a vaccine. Their CEO was interviewed recently and
indicated that after that decision was made, vaccine production would
take approximately 15 weeks.
Our updated recommendations for preventing the spread of illness will be posted shortly.
Comments / Posted by Scott W. Yates, MD, MBA, MS, FACP
