Americans warned to be ready for swine flu outbreaks
In a briefing at the White House, the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Richard Besser, said that eight cases of suspected swine flu in New York had been confirmed and that another had been identified in Ohio, bringing the U.S. total to 20 cases.
Canadian officials said this morning that four cases had been confirmed in Nova Scotia and another two in British Columbia, marking the first time that the disease has appeared north of the border. All six Canadian cases were mild, like those in the United States.
Mexico's Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said five more deaths had occurred from influenza in that country overnight, bring the death total to 86. Two of the new cases were confirmed as swine flu, but it is not clear how many of the others were.
The officials cast the moves as aggressive but precautionary, and they counseled calm.
Swine flu is "serious enough to be a great concern to this White House and to this government," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on NBC'S "Meet the Press," adding that President Obama is receiving frequent updates on the situation.
"We are taking the proper precautions to address anything that happens," Gibbs said. "It's not a time to panic."
Napolitano said the "emergency" declaration was a routine move to ensure the government is prepared "in an environment where we really don't know, ultimately, what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be."
The eight confirmed cases in New York involved students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens. City officials said Saturday that the virus involved was probably swine flu, and that was confirmed overnight by researchers at CDC.
Some of those students had taken a spring break in Mexico. Flu-like symptoms have been reported in some of the parents, but causes have not been confirmed. Officials also tested children at a daycare center where illness had been reported, but those tests came back negative.
The new case in Ohio is a 9-year-old boy in Lorain County. He has a mild case of the disease and is recovering at home.
The Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection said today that four cases had been confirmed in Windsor, Hants County, just across the river form the United States. The four victims were students who recently traveled to Mexico. None of them have been hospitalized.
An additional two cases have been confirmed in British Columbia in Western Canada, but details have not yet been released. Those cases are also reported as mild.
"This is moving fast," Besser added later, "but I want you to understand that we view this more as a marathon."
The symptoms of swine flu are nearly identical to the symptoms of other influenza, including high fever, aches, coughing and congestion. It is spreading by human to human contact. No cases of infection from pigs have been confirmed. And although Russia and some other countries have banned imports of pork from Mexico, there is absolutely no evidence that it can be transmitted by eating meat, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, assistant director general of the World Health Organization.
Countries around the world moved quickly to limit the disease's spread today. Some issued travel warnings for the United States or Mexico. Others began screening some incoming international air travelers for signs of high fever.
Besser and other officials at the press conference stressed simple steps that the U.S. public can take to limit spread of the disease: Wash hands frequently, stay home and don't board airplanes if you feel sick; and keep sick children out of school.
Gibbs said it was too early to speculate about economic effects of an outbreak. And he dismissed reporters who asked if the federal response was hampered by the fact that the Senate had not yet confirmed President Obama's nominee to lead the Health and Human Services department, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.
"It's all hands on deck and we're doing fine," Gibbs said. "I would say that we hope we have a new secretary shortly."
jtankersley@latimes.com
thomas.maugh@latimes.com
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Luis Asocta / AFP/Getty Images
Parishoners walk past an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint, at the Guadalupe's Basilica in Mexico City.
A public health emergency is declared as a precaution, officials say. Twenty swine flu have been found in the U.S. Canada reports six. In Mexico, the flu death toll has climbed to 86.
Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington -- Federal officials today declared a public health emergency involving human swine flu, warning Americans to prepare for widespread outbreaks now or in the future, yet urging them not to panic.
"As we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum of disease," Besser said. "We're going to see more severe disease in this country."
Janet Napolitano, U.S. Homeland Security secretary, said the government would release a quarter of its 50-million-unit strategic reserve of antiviral medications, which combat the disease in infected patients, to states where outbreaks have occurred. Besser said the CDC has isolated the swine flu virus and prepared a "seed stock" for the manufacture of a vaccine but will not distribute it to pharmaceutical companies until the situation becomes more severe. Manufacture of a new vaccine will require months.
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