Canada confirms swine flu

Canada became the third country to confirm human cases of swine flu Sunday (Apr 27) as global health officials considered whether to raise the global pandemic alert level.

 

Nations from New Zealand to Spain also reported suspected cases, and some warned citizens against travel to North America while others planned quarantines, tightened rules on pork imports and tested airline passengers for fevers.

 

The six Canadian cases in Nova Scotia and British Columbia all had links to people who had travelled to Mexico, and all are the same swine flu strain.

 

Canada's chief public health officer David Butler-Jones said they have recovered, but are probably not the last cases to see in Canada.

 

The news follows the World Health Organisation's (WHO) decision on Saturday (Apr 25) to declare the outbreak first detected in Mexico and the US a public health emergency of international concern.

 

A senior WHO official said the agency's emergency committee will meet for a second time Tuesday (Apr 28) to examine the spread of the virus before deciding whether to increase the alert for a possible pandemic, or global epidemic.

 

WHO's assistant director-general in charge of health security Keiji Fukuda said the same strain of the H1N1 swine flu virus has been detected in several locations in Mexico and the US, and it appears to be spreading directly from human to human.

 

Mexico's federal health secretary said the disease has killed 103 people and likely sickened more than 1,600 since April 13.

 

US officials said the virus has been found in New York, California, Texas, Kansas and Ohio, but no fatalities have been reported.

 

Governments including China, Russia and Taiwan began planning to put anyone with symptoms of the deadly virus under quarantine.

 

Others were increasing their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or banning them outright despite health officials' reassurances that it was safe to eat thoroughly cooked pork.

 

Fukuda said WHO emergency committee is still trying to determine exactly how the virus has spread.

 

Raising the pandemic alert phase could entail issuing specific recommendations to countries on how to halt the disease, but so far, WHO has only urged governments to step up their surveillance of suspicious outbreaks.

 

WHO's director general Margaret Chan said the agency is considering issuing non-binding recommendations on travel and trade restrictions and border closures.

 

No vaccine specifically protects against swine flu, and it is unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer.

 

Russia banned the import of meat products from Mexico, California, Texas and Kansas, while South Korea said it would increase the number of its flu virus checks on pork products from Mexico and the US.