News Service from House Harris

CAM: Mexico fights swine flu with 'pandemic potential'

MEXICO CITY, April 25 AP - A new swine flu strain that has killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico has "pandemic potential", the World Health Organisation chief says - and it may be too late to contain the sudden outbreak.

The disease has already reached Texas and California, and with 24 new suspected cases reported Saturday in Mexico City alone, schools were closed and all public events suspended in the capital until further notice - including more than 500 concerts and other gatherings in the metropolis of 20 million.

A hot line fielded 2,366 calls in its first hours from frightened city residents who suspected they might have the disease. Soldiers and health workers handed out masks at subway stops, and hospitals dealt with crowds of people seeking help.

The World Health Organisation's director-general Margaret Chan said the outbreak of the never-before-seen virus is a very serious situation and has "pandemic potential". But she said it's still too early to tell if it will become a pandemic.

"The situation is evolving quickly," Chan said in a telephone news conference in Geneva. "A new disease is by definition poorly understood."

This virus is a mix of human, pig and bird strains that prompted the WHO to meet on Saturday to consider declaring an international public health emergency - a step that could lead to travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures. Spokesman Gregory Hartl said a decision will not be made on Saturday.

Scientists have warned for years about the potential for a pandemic from viruses that mix genetic material from humans and animals. Another reason to worry is that authorities said the dead so far don't include vulnerable infants and elderly. The Spanish flu pandemic, which killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19, also first struck otherwise healthy young adults.

This swine flu and regular flu can have similar symptoms - mostly fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the US victims who recovered also experienced vomiting and diarrhoea. But unlike with regular flu, humans don't have natural immunity to a virus that includes animal genes - and new vaccines can take months to bring into use.

But experts at the WHO and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention say the nature of this outbreak may make containment impossible. Already, more than 1,000 people have been infected in as many as 14 of Mexico's 32 states, according to daily newspaper El Universal. Tests show 20 people have died of the swine flu, and 48 other deaths were probably due to the same strain.

The CDC and Canadian health officials are studying samples sent from Mexico, and airports around the world are screening passengers from Mexico for symptoms of the new flu strain, saying they may quarantine passengers.

But CDC officials dismissed the idea of trying that in the United States, and some expert said it's too late to try to contain the spread of the virus.

They noted there had been no direct contact between the cases in the San Diego and San Antonio areas, suggesting the virus had already spread from one geographic area through other undiagnosed people.

"Anything that would be about containing it right now would purely be a political move," said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota pandemic expert.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said his government only discovered the nature of the virus late on Thursday, with the help of international laboratories. "We are doing everything necessary," he said in a brief statement.

But the government had said for days that its growing flu caseload was nothing unusual, so the sudden turnaround angered many who wonder if Mexico missed an opportunity to contain the outbreak.

Mexican authorities have urged people to stay home if they feel sick and to avoid shaking hands or kissing people on the cheeks.

The virus has sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths north of the border, puzzling experts at the CDC.

A "seed stock" genetically matched to the new swine flu virus has been created by the CDC, said Dr Richard Besser, the agency's acting director. If the government decides vaccine production is necessary, manufacturers will need that stock to get started.

The CDC says two flu drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, seem effective against the new strain. Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, said the company is prepared to immediately deploy a stockpile of the drug if requested. Both drugs must be taken early, within a few days of the onset of symptoms, to be most effective.

Mexico's Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said the country has enough Tamiflu to treat one million people - only one in 20 people in greater Mexico City alone - and that the medicine will be strictly controlled and handed out only by doctors.