A 23-month-old child in Texas has died of the swine flu, marking the first confirmed death from the virus outside of the borders of Mexico in the spreading outbreak, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.þþDr. Richard Besser, acting director of the C.D.C., confirmed the child’s death of the disease in an interview with CNN. He gave no other details about the child.þþWith fears about the outbreak of swine flu around the world deepening on Wednesday, the World Health Organization in Geneva held a scientific review of the disease with experts from the United States, Mexico and other countries where people have been infected by swine flu. The United Nations’s health body said a report would be published shortly after the meeting, The Associated Press reported.þþThe first three cases in Germany were reported by the country’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch-Institut making it the third European nation to have confirmed infections, following two cases each in Britain and Spain. British health authorities are awaiting the results of tests on people who came into contact with a couple in Scotland who contracted the illness during their honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico. þþThe W.H.O. has confirmed 105 cases of swine flu in seven countries. More than half of those — 66 — are in the United States. Swine flu is suspected of killing at least 159 people in Mexico and sickening more than 2,400 there.þþAt least 10 countries — from China to Russia to Ukraine to Ecuador — have established bans on the importing all pork products, despite a declaration from the W.H.O. that the virus cannot be transmitted by eating pork. þþ“There is no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products,” the W.H.O. said in a statement.þþAlso Wednesday, Malaysia took the extraordinary step of asking the W.H.O. to endorse a ban on all travel out of Mexico. þþ“We have spoken to W.H.O. officials and asked them to stop those in Mexico leaving the country,” said Liow Tiong Lai, the Malaysian health minister, quoted by Bloomberg News. þþThe Malaysian request came despite a W.H.O. statement that said there was no need for any “restriction of regular travel or closure of borders.” Such measures, the agency said, would be ineffective in stopping the spread of the virus. þþBloomberg also quoted John MacKenzie, a noted virus specialist from Australia, as saying the Malaysian proposal was “ridiculous.”þþThe C.D.C. has advised Americans only to “avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico.”þþOutside Mexico, several countries reported new cases.þþNew Zealand said on Wednesday that 14 cases had been confirmed there. The Health Ministry, on its Web site, called it “Mexican swine influenza.”þþNew Zealand has been screening all arriving air passengers, and Dr. Fran McGrath, the deputy director of public health, said that five foreign travelers were being treated under quarantine for mild cases of the flu. All five were being “kept in isolation” at an undisclosed location in Auckland. þþCancun, a resort on the Yucatán peninsula, is a popular vacation destination for Europeans. Health and airport authorities in Munich said the first direct flight carrying vacationers back to Germany since the outbreak of the disease in Mexico was expected and might be quarantined if passengers showed symptoms of swine flu.þþBritain’s Department of Health also said Wednesday that leaflets about the virus would be distributed to all British households.þþTwo infections have been confirmed in Israel.þþThe W.H.O. has documented 64 cases in the United States and six in Canada. þþIn Washington, President Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in supplemental funding, as state and federal officials intensified their response to the outbreak.þþNumerous countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America have been screening arriving passengers, including thermal facial scans and on-board checks of air travelers. Several countries have set up diagnostic and quarantine facilities for travelers suspected of being ill.þþCuba has canceled all flights to and from Mexico, and Argentina banned all flights from Mexico. þþFive cruise lines, including the world’s two largest, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, said they were immediately stopping all port calls in Mexico. Princess Cruises, Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Line also said they were suspending Mexican stopovers. Cruises to Mexico accounted for about 7 percent of cruise traffic worldwide in 2008, according to the Cruise Line Industry Association. þþMexico City was looking increasingly like a ghost town as the city government ordered all restaurants, except those that serve take-out food, closed until May 6 to prevent large gatherings of people. About 30,000 restaurants are affected. þþMovie theaters, bars and discos have also been shut.þþBut the city has yet to make the decision to shut down public transportation, a move that would freeze most economic activity in the capital. Most bus and subway riders have taken to wearing face masks. þþSchools all over the country have been closed, affecting some 33 million students, and many tourist sites — including museums and archaeological sites — were put off limits. þþCitigroup’s Mexican subsidiary, Banamex, ran a newspaper ad asking customers to wear their masks and wash their hands. At bank branches, where employees have been told to wash their hands every hour, antiseptic gel dispensers were being installed. Banamex also asked customers to do as much banking by phone and Internet as possible. þþDr. Richard E. Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, termed the early days of swine flu in the United States as a “prepandemic period” and was blunt about the potential impact of this influenza. “As this moves forward,” he said, “I fully expect that we will see deaths from this infection.” þþHe said that five people confirmed to have swine flu had been hospitalized in the United States — two in Texas and three in California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency. But the nation’s highest number of cases continued to be in New York City, where 45 people were confirmed to have swine flu.þþIn Washington, Congressional hearings addressed the seriousness of the outbreak. þþ“I really think we need to be prepared for the worsening of the situation,” Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, the C.D.C.’s interim science and public health deputy director, told a Senate Appropriations health subcommittee. “It’s more of a marathon than a sprint,” she said, echoing what Dr. Besser had said on Sunday, when the country first declared swine flu a public health emergency.þþSenator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who heads the subcommittee, noted that “there’s a lot of anxiety right now across the country.”þþReporting was contributed by Liz Robbins, Donald G. McNeil Jr., Anahad O’Connor and Anne Barnard from New York; Nicholas Confessore from Albany; David Stout from Washington; Marc Lacey from La Gloria, Mexico; Alan Cowell from London; Ian Austen from Ottawa; and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong; and Victor Homola from Berlin.þþ
Source: NY Times
