news WHO cautions Mexico against saying swine flu is stabilizing; Cda has 34 cases

[rwilli1]

WHO cautions Mexico against saying swine flu is stabilizing; Cda has 34 cases



Thu Apr 30, 7:26 PM





By Allison Jones, The Canadian Press



On a day when Canadian cases of swine flu surged to 34, officials here moved to reassure the public while world health officials cautioned Mexico against pronouncements that the deadly spread of swine flu was stabilizing.

Worldwide 257 people have been confirmed by the World Health Organization to have swine flu - or H1N1 influenza A, as the WHO is now calling it.

Fifteen new cases were confirmed in Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario and while all of the cases seen in this country so far have been mild, it appears eight of the infected people hadn't travelled recently to Mexico or California.

British Columbia health officials decided to close Beairsto Elementary School in Vernon, B.C., as a precautionary measure after a student was diagnosed with swine flu.

The WHO also announced Thursday it would stop using the term "swine flu" after the agriculture industry and the UN food agency expressed concerns that the term was misleading consumers about pork.

Egypt began slaughtering thousands of pigs Wednesday in a misguided effort to prevent swine flu and the Iraqi government decided Thursday to kill three wild boars at the Baghdad Zoo.

Canada followed suit with a name change in an afternoon news conference.

"From this time we will be referring to this human virus as the H1N1 flu virus to make it very clear that this disease is not spread from pigs or from either pork or pork products," said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief medical officer of health.

Butler-Jones also moved to reassure Canadians that despite an increase in cases and the World Health Organization putting the pandemic alert level at 5, a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent, the country is ready should the situation worsen.

"Right now that snapshot shows that a pandemic is highly likely," Butler-Jones said. "How severe it is remains to be seen. But Canadians should be reassured that we are among the most prepared in the world."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper also said Thursday that everything possible is being done to respond to swine flu and encouraged everyone to comply with the advice of health care officials.

"We are all very concerned about the situation," Harper said. "At the same time, people should rest assured that governments around the world are responding to this in an appropriate and co-ordinated way."

But while all of Canada's cases have so far been mild, Dr. David Williams, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health warned that could change.

"We haven't seen the severe picture that was in Mexico," Williams said. "It does give some ongoing reassurance to some extent, but it's still early and the virus can mutate as well. So while I want to reassure the public that so far it continues to perform in the mild level, I don't think we can be complacent."

Meanwhile, Mexico's top health official declared the number of new swine flu cases to be stabilizing in the nation at the epicentre of the outbreak.

Health secretary Jose Angel Cordova told a news conference he hoped the trend will continue.

The World Health Organization's flu chief, reacting to similar comments from other Mexican officials, cautioned that case numbers often go up and down, and said the WHO had yet to see concrete evidence that the flu's spread was levelling off.

"It's a mixed pattern out there," Dr. Keiji Fukuda said. "What's happening in one part of the country is not necessarily what's happening in another part of the country."

The swine flu is suspected of sickening 2,955 people and killing 168 in Mexico, though the confirmed cases are at 260 people ill and 12 dead. One death has been reported outside Mexico, with a 23-month-old boy from Mexico dying in Texas.

The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. now stands at 128, according to officials in that country. Other confirmed cases include 13 in Spain, eight in Britain, three each in Germany and New Zealand, two in Israel and one each in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The WHO confirmed tally often lags behind those of individual countries.

In the United States vice-president Joe Biden set off a rapid fire succession of clarifications after early morning comments he made when asked what advice he would give a family member considering flying to Mexico.

"I would tell members of my family - and I have - I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," Biden said in a television interview.

"It's not that it's going to Mexico. It's you're in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft."

Biden went on to say he wouldn't suggest that they ride the subway either.

What followed was Biden's office, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs all offering clarifications on what Biden meant to say.

"The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving to all Americans: that they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico," said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander.

"If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways."

Nearly 300 schools in the United States have closed because of concerns about spreading swine flu.

It was also revealed Thursday that a security aide helping with arrangements during U.S. President Barack Obama's recent trip to Mexico became sick with flu-like symptoms and three members of his family later contracted probable swine flu.

In Luxembourg, European Union health ministers holding emergency talks on swine flu agreed to work "without delay" with drug makers to develop a pilot vaccine to fight the virus.

The Red Cross said Thursday it is readying an army of 60 million volunteers who can be deployed around the world to help slow the virus's spread, including by educating people about hygiene and caring for the sick.

- With files from The Associated Press