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Mexico flu outbreak kills dozens Experts probe deadly Mexico flu
(about 3 hours later)
Dozens of people have died and hundreds of others have been infected in a viral outbreak in Mexico suspected to have been caused by a strain of swine flu. World health experts are investigating a new strain of flu that may have killed as many as 60 people in Mexico.
The World Health Organization thinks the virus may be behind 60 deaths in Mexico since mid-March. The US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said tests so far seem to link Mexico's outbreak with a swine flu virus that had sickened eight in the southern US.
Mexican authorities have closed schools in affected areas and a vaccination campaign is being launched. The CDC said it was taking the virus - about which it was working to learn as much as possible - seriously.
Seven non-fatal cases of a new form of swine flu have also been confirmed in the southern United States. Mexican authorities have closed schools, museums and theatres, and launched a vaccination campaign.
A WHO spokesman said 12 out of 18 samples taken from the Mexican victims showed they died from a virus with the same genetic structure as the one found in the US. It is suspected the virus may have been involved in the deaths of about 60 people, mostly in and around Mexico City, since mid-March.
The WHO would convene an emergency meeting in the "very near future" to determine whether the event constituted a "public health event of international concern", Gregory Hartl told Reuters news agency. A new swine flu strain has been confirmed in 16 of the deaths and 44 others are being tested, Mexico's health secretary said. More than 900 other people are thought to have been infected.
The White House said it was following the US outbreak - in California and Texas - closely. Public buildings have been closed across the capital region and people are being urged to avoid shaking hands or sharing crockery.
'Mutated from pigs' In Geneva, the World Health Organization said an emergency committee would likely convene over the weekend.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said "unusual end-of-season influenza activity" was noticed in Mexico starting from the end of March. And in the US, the White House said it was watching the situation.
Fifty-seven people had died in Mexico City from flu-like symptoms, she said, and another three in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. There are around 800 suspected cases, she said. 'Learn more'
There are many different types of swine flu and, like human flu, the infection is constantly changing class="" href="/1/hi/health/8017585.stm">Q&A: Swine flu Dr Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said that preliminary tests on seven out of 14 samples from patients in Mexico had matched the virus found in the US.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the virus had "mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans". Eight people have fallen sick - six in California and two in Texas - with a virus that experts say is a new strain of swine flu. All eight have recovered and only one was hospitalised.
The strain of flu had been confirmed in at least 16 deaths, with 44 others being tested, the government said. class="" href="/1/hi/health/8017585.stm">Q&A: Swine flu
It urged people to take preventative measures such as not shaking hands or sharing crockery. Dr Besser said more information was needed to determine the extent of the threat posed by the virus. It was unclear, he said, why it was proving fatal in Mexico but not in the US.
All schools and universities in the capital and in nearby Mexico State have been closed, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs reports from Mexico City. "We are not at the point of declaring a pandemic - we are at the point of trying to learn more about this virus," he said.
'No contact' "In Mexico, other influenza viruses are circulating there, so sorting out which cases are caused by swine flu, which are other viruses and which are co-infections will be very important public health information."
In the US, experts say the seven people who fell ill across two states were suffering from a new form of swine flu that combined pig, bird and human viruses. The WHO said it had prepared "rapid containment measures" in case they were needed.
The CDC said none of the seven victims had been in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. But both it and the CDC said that there was no need at this point to issue travel advisories for parts of Mexico or the US.
CDC spokeswoman Anne Schuchat said that officials did not yet know how widely the virus had spread. The CDC said it planned to send experts to Mexico to help investigate the virus.
But she pointed out that all seven victims had recovered. "So far this is not looking like very very severe influenza," she said. Swine flu is a respiratory disease which infects pigs. It does not normally infect humans, although sporadic cases do occur usually in people who have had close contact with pigs.
While the world has been worried over the past few years about the impact of a pandemic originating from avian flu, the WHO say that swine flu has been implicated in the emergence of two of the last century's influenza pandemics, reports BBC science reporter Matt McGrath. There have also been rare documented cases of humans passing the infection to other humans.
Pigs can serve as a mixing vessel for both human and avian viruses that could combine to create a more virulent strain, our reporter adds. Such cases are monitored very closely because of fears that a new strain of swine flu with the ability to pass from person to person could spark a pandemic.
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