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Swine Influenza : Spread and Source
Mexico City - As of 19:15 GMT, 28 April 2009, seven countries have officially reported confirmed cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 infection. The seven countries are Mexico (26 confirmed cases), United States of America (64 confirmed cases), Canada (6 confirmed cases), New Zealand (3 confirmed cases), Israel (2 confirmed cases), the United Kingdom (2 confirmed cases), and Spain (2 confirmed cases). Twenty six confirmed human cases reported in Mexico included seven deaths. Besides in Mexico, no death from swine influenza has been reported in the other six countries.
Other countries such as Hong Kong and South Korea are testing some of its citizens suspected of swine influenza infection. China authorities are also testing some of its citizens with influenza-like symptoms. In Europe, Denmark, France, Ireland, Sweden, and Swiss are monitoring several suspected swine influenza cases. The United States of America government has also announced public health emergency in response to the high number of cases found in that country.
Mexico’s Health Minister, Jose Angel Cordova, said the first case of swine influenza in Mexico is believed to be in a hog farm in Oaxaca State. But, he pressed on that nobody knows the initial site or how the virus spread.
So far, most swine influenza victims were aged between 20 to 50 years old. Past pandemics also had high mortality of people in the young age group.
Source : Kompas (ap/afp/reuters/bbc/fro), WHO [edit]