Posted on 04/27/2009 4:05:38 AM PDT by Lady GOP
WELLINGTON, New Zealand Three more New Zealanders recently returned from Mexico are suspected of having swine flu and Spain announced the first confirmed case of the deadly virus in Europe on Monday, as countries rushed to screen travelers for fevers.
World Health Organization spokesman Peter Cordingley said the new virus was spreading quickly in Mexico and the southern United States, raising fears of a global pandemic.
"These are early days. It's quite clear that there is a potential for this virus to become a pandemic and threaten globally," Cordingley, WHO's spokesman for the Western Pacific, told AP Television News.
"But we honestly don't know," he added. "We don't know enough yet about how this virus operates. More work needs to be done."
As of late Sunday, the number of suspected swine flu cases in Mexico had climbed to 1,614, including as many as 103 deaths, according to Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova. The United States has confirmed at least 11 cases of swine flu, and Canada six cases.
Spain's Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said the confirmed case was found in a young man who recently returned from Mexico. The man is responding well treatment. Another 20 people in the country are suspected of having the disease.
Meanwhile, New Zealand was testing several students, their parents and teachers who were showing flu-like symptoms. Israel has put two people under observation, while France and Brazil have also reported suspected cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Had not heard Brazil.
Health department spokesman Robert Jennings said the boy has a mild case of the disease and is recovering at his home in Elyria, in northern Ohio's Lorain County
This one had also visited Mexico City.
All this and Napolitano doesn’t think that checking travelers from Mexico is worth the bother. Now if they were veterans that would entirely a different matter.
Its too late. They are here. When we start seeing cases who have not visited Mexico there could be a problem.
I think Spain has like 17 suspected cases right now.
I like how this variant seems to have happened in the spring time when spring break was in effect. What a better way to keep peoples eyes off the ball than to introduce a virus into the stream of people.
Misdirection to help speed his health care bill into the mix. You watch....OBAMA WILL USE THE FLU “PANDEMIC” TO USHER HIS HEALTH CARE BILL ALONG !!!!
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