April 28, 2009

 

WHO: "Too late" to contain swine flu

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the deadly swine flu virus can no longer be contained and instead countries should focus on mitigating the effects of the virus.

 

The WHO has raised its alert level from three to four-- two steps short of declaring a full pandemic.

 

Probable deaths from the virus in Mexico have officially risen to 152 though only 20 cases are confirmed.

 

Level four means the virus is showing a sustained ability to pass from human to human, and is able to cause community-level outbreaks.

 

The US, Canada, Spain and Britain meanwhile have confirmed milder versions.

    
WHO Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda said the virus had become too widespread for containment a feasible option, hence, countries must focus on trying to put measures in place to protect the population.

 

He also stressed that the experts did not recommend closing borders or restricting travel, stating "With the virus being widespread... closing borders or restricting travel really has very little effects in stopping the movement of this virus".

 

Though swine flu vaccine could be ready in four to six months' time, it will still take several more months to produce large quantities of it, Fukuda said.

 

Health experts say the virus comes from the same strain that causes seasonal outbreaks in humans. But they say this newly detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu which usually affect pigs and birds.

 

Meanwhile, Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said suspected death toll from had risen to 152. Of that number, 20 have been confirmed as swine flu.

 

He said that all of those who had died aged between 20 and 50 and infections among young healthy adults were a characteristic of past pandemics.

 

He said the first suspected case of swine flu had occurred in the southern state of Oaxaca but stressed that nobody knew "the point of origin or dissemination" of the virus.

 

Nearly 2,000 people had been hospitalised since the first case of swine flu was reported on 13 April, he added, but half had now been allowed home.

 

Cordova said that the number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals had declined during the past three days: from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 on Monday.

 

Schools nationwide are to remain closed until 6 May as the country grapples with the outbreak.

  

In almost all swine flu cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.