Swine Flu in U.S., Mexico Is ’International Concern’

Swine Flu in U.S., Mexico Is ’International Concern’ (Update1)
By Jason Gale
April 25 (Bloomberg) -- The deadly swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the U.S. is a global concern and warrants an urgent assessment of its potential to spark the first influenza pandemic in 41 years, the World Health Organization said.
The United Nations health agency declared the epidemic “a public health emergency of international concern” after a meeting of an emergency committee of the agency today. There is no evidence at this stage the level of pandemic alert should be increased, WHO said in its statement today from Geneva.
Human-to-human spread of the previously unseen H1N1 swine influenza in Mexico and the U.S. is heightening concern that the virus may spark a pandemic. At least 81 deaths in Mexico may be linked to swine flu, Jose Cordova, Mexico’s Health Minister, told reporters today. More than 1,000 have fallen ill with flu- like symptoms in the Mexico City region in the past month, he said yesterday. The government of President Felipe Calderon has declared an emergency.
“The committee advised that answers to several specific questions were needed to facilitate its work,” according to the statement from the World Health Organization. “The committee nevertheless agreed that the current situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”
The number of deaths in which swine flu was confirmed in Mexico remains at 20, Cordova said today at a press conference in Mexico City. Of 14 tissue samples tested from Mexico, half were a genetic match with the swine flu reported in eight people in California and Texas, the Atlanta-based Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.
Cordova said today that 1,324 patients are under examination for possibly having the virus. No foreign government has put a ban on travel to Mexico, Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz said at the televised press conference.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net Last Updated: April 25, 2009 21:35 EDT