New flu kills 2nd person in US, spreads globally

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http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSSP396197

New flu kills 2nd person in US, spreads globally

Wed May 6, 2009 1:12am EDT

* WHO on alert for full pandemic

* 29 deaths confirmed in Mexico

* Chinese stranded in Mexico head home

By Baltimore

HOUSTON, May 6 (Reuters) - A Texas woman with the new H1N1 flu died earlier this

week, state health officials said, the second death outside of Mexico, where the

epidemic appeared to be waning.

Officials said on Tuesday the woman, who was in her 30s, had chronic health

problems. U.S. health officials have predicted that the swine flu virus would

spread and inevitably kill some people, just as seasonal flu does.

Last week a Mexican toddler visiting Texas also died. Mexican officials have

reported 29 confirmed deaths.

The World Health Organization was monitoring the spread of the virus and said 21

countries have officially reported 1,490 cases. The United States has 403

confirmed cases in 38 states, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention said, with another 700 " probable " cases. Canada has reported 165

cases.

" Those numbers will go up, we anticipate, and unfortunately there are likely to

be more hospitalizations and more deaths, " U.S. Health and Human Services

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.

Health officials said the outbreak seemed to be slowing in Mexico, the country

hardest-hit by the virus, which is a mixture of swine viruses and some elements

of human and bird flu. At the same time, infections were breaking out globally.

An aircraft carrying 97 Chinese stranded in Mexico by the flu scare was expected

to arrive in Shanghai late on Wednesday and all on board appear healthy, state

media said.

" Doctors are monitoring the passengers' health, " Xinhua news agency quoted China

Southern airline as saying, describing them as being " in normal condition " .

An AeroMexico plane arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday to repatriate dozens of

Mexicans who had become pawns in a drama about how far governments should go to

stifle fears that the H1N1 virus could cross their borders. [iD:nSP348835]

None of the 43 Mexicans that Beijing quarantined had shown symptoms of the H1N1

flu virus, prompting Mexico to accuse China of being " discriminatory " . China

denied the allegation, saying isolation was the correction procedure.

Trade skirmishes over pork also worsened, with some countries imposing new

restrictions, despite assurances by the United Nations Food and Agriculture

Organization that pork, especially cooked pork, was safe to eat.

U.S. and Canadian pig and pork exports have been hit by bans from Russia to

Ecuador that rattled the $26 billion-a-year global pork industry, in which

Mexico, the United States and Canada are among top exporters.

PANDEMIC ALERT

The question remained how far the virus would spread and how serious would it

be. The WHO remained at pandemic alert level 5, meaning a pandemic is imminent.

" If it spreads around the world you will see hundreds of millions of people get

infected, " the WHO's Dr. Keiji Fukuda told a news briefing.

If it continues to spread outside the Americas, the WHO would likely move to

phase 6, a full pandemic alert. This would prompt countries to activate pandemic

plans, distribute antiviral drugs and antibiotics and perhaps advise people to

take other precautions like limiting large gatherings.

" It's not so much the number of countries, but whether the virus sets up shop in

any of those countries like it has here and starts to spread person to person.

And given the number of countries that have cases, one would think that

eventually that criteria would be met, " said acting CDC director Dr.

Besser.

He and Fukuda said it would be important to watch the Southern Hemisphere, where

winter and the flu season are just beginning. [iD:nT184398]

Other pandemics have started with a mild new virus in spring that has come back

to cause severe disease later in the year. WHO said it would begin sending 2.4

million treatment courses of Roche AG's (ROG.VX) and Gilead Sciences Inc's

(GILD.O) Tamiflu, an antiviral proven effective against the new flu, to 72

nations.

Fukuda said it was too soon to say whether a new H1N1 vaccine was needed, but

scientists have started to make one. U.S. vaccine experts said it would probably

be given as two doses, separately from the seasonal flu vaccine. [iD:nN05513002]

Mexico began to return to normal, but a five-day lockdown ordered by the

government to try to slow the influenza's spread cast a pall on the normally

exuberant Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said the outbreak could knock as much

as half a percentage point off growth this year. [iD:nN05475803]

" It's having a big impact on our economy, " Carstens said. Mexico was already in

recession due to a collapse in U.S.-bound exports. Now its tourism industry is

being savaged .

(Writing by Maggie Fox. Additional reporting by Louise Egan, Trotta,

Rojas Mena, O'Boyle and Pascal Fletcher in Mexico City; MacInnis,

Nebehay in Geneva and Silvia Aloisi in Rome; Editing by Sanjeev

Miglani)

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