Public buildings, schools, and places of entertainment have been closed down for Mexico City's 20 million inhabitants after 81 deaths were recorded from person-to-person infected swine fever. Nearly 1,400 suspected cases have been admitted to hospital. New Zealand health minister says ten students who returned from Mexico are "likely" victims. The World Health Organization has put all countries on the alert for a potential world pandemic as it investigates the new, unfamiliar strain of flu and seeks and seeks counter-measures.
In New York City, eight high school students at the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens have contracted the virus among a group of 100 who visited Mexico. Elsewhere in the US, 7 people have been infected with the strain in California, two in Texas and two in Kansas. No suspected cases have been reported in Israel but its health authorities - like those in other countries – have advised people showing flu symptoms of high fever, coughing, sore throat, nausea and vomiting, to report to their doctors, especially if they returned from Mexico within the last week.
At least some of the cases investigated show a new version of the H1N1 swine influenza sub-strain, a combination of swine, fowl and human flu rarely encountered before in humans. It spreads mainly through coughs and sneezes. The Mexican victims who have died so far are usually young adults or teens. There is currently no vaccine for the new strain, but some Israeli experts report tentatively that people who received regular anti-flu vaccinations this last winter may develop lighter symptoms than those he did not.
Some experts recommend trying the Tamiflu vaccine
against bird flu. Mexican health authorities suspect the deadly H1N1 reached Mexico from the Far East, possibly through California. hattip JWB
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