World takes drastic steps to contain swine flu

[Guest guest]

World takes drastic steps to contain swine flu

By WILLIAM J. KOLE and MARIA CHENG, Associated Press Writers J. Kole And

Cheng, Associated Press Writers – 14 mins ago

From Egypt's order that all 300,000 pigs in the country be slaughtered to travel

bans and putting the kibosh on kissing, the world is taking drastic — and some

say debatable — measures to combat swine flu.

Egypt ordered the pig slaughter even though there hasn't been a single case of

swine flu there and no evidence that pigs have spread the disease. Britain, with

only five cases, is trying to buy 32 million masks. And in the United States,

President Barack Obama said more of the country's 132,000 schools may have to be

shuttered.

At airports from Japan to South Korea to Greece and Turkey, thermal cameras were

trained on airline passengers to see if any were feverish. And Lebanon

discouraged traditional Arab peck-on-the-cheek greetings, even though no one has

come down with the virus there.

All this and more, even though world health experts say many of these measures

may not stop the disease from spreading. On Wednesday, the World Health

Organization raised its pandemic alert to the second-highest level, meaning it

believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent.

" Scientifically speaking, the main thing is that every virus behaves

differently, " said Joerg Hacker, president of the Koch Institute,

Germany's top public health authority. " At the moment, the main issue is to get

to know this virus, how it works. "

In Germany, where officials confirmed three cases, Lufthansa announced that

starting Thursday it will put a doctor aboard all flights to Mexico, the

epicenter of the outbreak.

Experts said that makes sense: The doctors will be able to field questions from

uneasy passengers and tend to anyone who might fall ill.

The World Health Organization said total bans on travel to Mexico — such as one

imposed by Argentina, which hasn't had any confirmed cases — were questionable

because the virus is already fairly widespread.

Roselyne Bachelot, France's health minister, said she would ask the European

Union to suspend all flights to Mexico at a meeting Thursday in Luxembourg.

Travel bans were effective during the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Asia, because

that illness can be transmitted only by people who already show symptoms. With

flu, by contrast, the incubation period ranges from 24 hours to four days,

meaning people often are infectious before they have symptoms.

Health officials don't know enough about swine flu right now to say what the

precise incubation period is, but if it's similar to other flu, people are

likely able to spread it before they're sick.

" WHO does not recommend closing of borders and does not recommend restrictions

of travel, " said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the Geneva-based organization's flu chief.

" From an international perspective, closing borders or restricting travel would

have very little effect, if any effect at all, at stopping the movement of this

virus. "

Nor will killing pigs, as Egypt began doing Wednesday, infuriating pig farmers

who blocked streets and stoned Health Ministry workers' vehicles in protest.

While pigs are banned entirely in some Muslim countries because of religious

dietary restrictions, they are raised in Egypt for consumption by the country's

Christian minority.

Unlike bird flu, where the H5N1 strain that spread to humans was widespread in

bird populations and officials worried about people's exposure to infected

birds, WHO says there is no similar concern about pigs — and no evidence that

people have contracted swine flu by eating pork or handling pigs.

" There is no association that we've found between pigs and the disease in

humans, " WHO spokesman Dick said.

But that hasn't stopped governments from banning pig products. Macedonia ordered

a halt to all live pig imports and on Tuesday, Mexico City closed down all its

popular streetside taco stands for at least a week.

Dr. Nikki Shindo, a WHO flu expert, said the agency will consider requests to

stop calling the disease swine flu, since the virus is not food-borne and has

nothing to do with eating pork.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and others have suggested a new name,

arguing that swine flu implies a problem with pork products. China, Russia and

Ukraine are among countries that have banned pork imports from Mexico and parts

of the United States affected by swine flu.

But some anti-flu measures have merit, such as Obama's admonition Wednesday that

more American schools might have to be closed temporarily if swine flu cases

spread. Already tens of thousands of students in Texas, New York, California,

Chicago and elsewhere are out of school.

The WHO said closing schools and public places, along with banning or

restricting mass gatherings, can be a way to contain the spread of disease.

Epidemiologists call it " social distancing, " and the idea is simple: If you keep

people who have the virus away from others, you can stop the chain of

transmission.

" That's a technique we would be recommending in a pandemic, " said WHO's

. " We would recommend it to nations as a useful technique to be applied

given the special circumstances of each nation. "

Officials in Hong Kong, which has no confirmed cases, said workers were

scrubbing public toilets every two hours in an effort to improve hygiene.

" Not only will we be stepping up our usual efforts, but also we will make

special efforts to make sure that our back alleys, public housing estates,

recreation and transportation facilities are thoroughly cleansed and

disinfected, " said Leung, undersecretary for the Food and Health Bureau.

Experts, however, said it's debatable how much good disinfecting public places

will do. It probably helps cut down on bacteria and kill viruses lurking on

surfaces, but it's unclear whether it would stop person-to-person transmission.

Ditto the advice to stop kissing on the cheek, which was among the earliest

measures — along with refraining from handshakes — to be recommended by

authorities in Mexico.

WHO's was noncommittal on the " don't kiss " advice, saying only: " There

are different national circumstances that health officials are going to know far

better than we will. It's up to them to make that call. "

But at a news conference announcing the elevated pandemic level, WHO chief

Margaret Chan went further, suggesting it was time to rethink the traditional

three kisses on the cheek popular in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.

" Perhaps instead of having the traditional three hugs to say hello and welcome

your friends, maybe you don't do that anymore, " she said. " Don't hold each other

and hug their face three times. "

The flu virus is airborne and spread through tiny particles — mostly through

sneezing and coughing. That helps explain why governments worldwide have been

distributing millions of face masks, even though the U.S. Centers for Disease

Control and other agencies have questioned their effectiveness.

Some doctors warn masks might even be harmful, causing people to take risks —

like venturing into crowds or neglecting to wash hands — in the mistaken belief

the mask protects them. More expensive high filtration masks like those used by

health professionals can filter out fine particles carried in the air, but even

these must be used properly to give real protection.

Other measures, such as installing thermal cameras at airports to screen

passengers from infected countries, are simply inconclusive. Scanners were set

up across Asia during the SARS outbreak, but officials aren't sure they caught

any cases. WHO says the usefulness of such devices is debatable.

Amid the flurry of measures being taken, fear mingled with a sense of fatalism.

" You can't protect yourself — not in the way that people are traveling

nowadays, " said Karin Henriksson, 56, of Stockholm.

" Then you would have to put the entire population in quarantine. And you can't

do that, can you? "

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