Chief medical officer confirms two mild cases of swine flu in Alberta

April 28, 2009

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

By The Canadian Press

EDMONTON - Alberta's chief medical officer has confirmed two mild cases of swine

flu - one in Calgary and the other in the northern part of the province.

Dr. Andre Corriveau says both individuals are male and contracted the influenza

virus during recent travel to Mexico.

Neither man was hospitalized. One no longer has symptoms, while the other has

made almost a full recovery.

Corriveau says the Alberta cases are similar to ones in Nova Scotia, British

Columbia and across the United States in that they are not severe.

" These cases show that our monitoring and surveillance system is working as it

should, " Corriveau said in a news release.

" It was only a matter of time until cases of human swine influenza would show up

in Alberta. "

Canada has joined the list of countries advising against travel to Mexico

because of the swine flu outbreak.

The advisory from the Public Health Agency of Canada says any non-essential

travel to Mexico should be postponed until further notice.

On Monday, the World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert level to

Phase 4 from Phase 3 to signal the increasing severity of the situation.

But the UN agency said it still does not characterize a swine flu pandemic as

inevitable.

Mexico has linked 152 deaths to swine flu.

The U.S. has diagnosed 64 cases, Canada six, Spain one and Scotland two. New

Zealand health officials announced Tuesday that 11 cases have been confirmed

there.

No country outside of Mexico has seen any severe cases caused by the virus.

On Monday, -, Canada's chief public health officer, said that

could change in this country.

" We will likely see more cases. We will likely see more severe illnesses. And we

will, likely - unfortunately - see some deaths, as well. "

More than one million Canadians visit Mexico each year, mostly in the winter.

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