msnbc.com news services
updated 3:30 p.m. ET, Fri., April 24, 2009
The unique strain of swine flu found in California and Texas has been connected to the deadly flu that has broken out in Mexico, killing as many as 61 people, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has confirmed.

The strain has never been seen before and is raising fears of a possible pandemic across North America.

The CDC's acting director Dr. Richard Besser announced Friday that an additional child in California tested positive for the swine flu, bringing the total number of U.S. cases to eight. All of the U.S. patients have recovered from the flu.

CDC labs have confirmed that the flu-like illness in both countries is due to the same unusual genetic strain of the virus, Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing. Of the 14 samples tested from Mexico, seven were matches.

It first looked mostly like a swine virus but closer analysis showed it is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses.

“It is a virus that mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans,” Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.

Cordova said additional suspected cases were still being tested. Mexico's Public Health Department put the total number of people sickened at close to 1,000 nationwide.

Cordova said in Mexico the virus has killed only people among the normally less-vulnerable young and mid-adult age range. One possibility is that the most vulnerable segments of the population — infants and the aged — had been vaccinated against other strains, and that those vaccines may be providing some protection.

Mexico closed museums and libraries Friday as well as canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding area.

The White House is closely following the outbreak and President Barack Obama has been informed, an administration official said on Friday.

U.S. health officials said they expect to find more cases of the swine flu as they check people who had contact with the California and Texas patients.

The CDC has issued a travel advisory, warning people traveling to central Mexico to take flu-prevention precautions.

At least one of the California victims had traveled to Mexico.

The swine flu's symptoms are like those of the regular flu, mostly involving fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the seven also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.

"We are very, very concerned," WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said. "We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human." If international spread is confirmed, that meets WHO's criteria for raising the pandemic alert level, he added.

Growing mystery
The U.S. cases are a growing medical mystery because it's unclear how they caught the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said none of the eight people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said they believe it can spread human-to-human, which is unusual for a swine flu virus.

Still, health officials said it's not a cause for public alarm. Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year. Plus, testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the new swine virus.

Health officials have seen mixes of bird, pig and human virus before, but never such an intercontinental combination with more than one pig virus in the mix.

Scientists keep a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu, said Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The virus may be something completely new, or it may have been around for a while but was only detected now because of improved lab testing and disease surveillance, CDC officials said.

The virus was first detected in two children in southern California — a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County and a 9-year-old girl in neighboring Imperial County.

The cases were detected under unusual circumstances. One was seen at a Navy clinic that participates in a specialized disease detection network, and the other was caught through a specialized surveillance system set up in border communities, CDC officials said.

Investigators have since discovered six more cases. That includes a father and his teenage daughter in San Diego County, a 41-year-old woman in Imperial County who was the only person hospitalized, and two 16-year-old boys who are friends and live in Guadalupe County, Texas, near San Antonio.

Puzzling cases
The Texas cases are especially puzzling. One of the California cases — the 10-year-old boy — traveled to Texas early this month, but that was to Dallas, about 270 miles northeast of San Antonio. He did not travel to the San Antonio area, Schuchat said.

The two 16-year-olds had not traveled recently, Texas health officials said.

No details were available about the eighth victim, a child from San Diego.

CDC are not calling it an outbreak, a term that suggests ongoing illnesses. It's not known if anyone is getting sick from the virus right now, CDC officials said.

It's also not known if the seasonal flu vaccine that Americans got last fall and early this year protects against this type of virus. People should wash their hands and take other customary precautions, CDC officials said.

The Mexican government warned people not to shake hands, kiss when greeting or share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of contracting the flu.

Mexico City, one of the world's biggest cities and home to some 20 million people, was quieter than usual on Friday morning. Normally choking traffic was less chaotic in the absence of school buses and parents driving kids to school.

Many people waiting to enter subway stations had their faces covered with surgical masks.

Antivirals ready if needed
WHO said on Friday that it was prepared with "rapid containment measures" including antivirals if needed to combat the swine flu outbreaks in Mexico and the United States.

But health authorities in the two countries have the resources required already in place and are "well equipped," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi said in Geneva.

She said the United Nations agency saw no need at this point to issue travel advisories warning travelers not to go to parts of Mexico or the United States.

The WHO will convene a meeting of its Emergency Committee on international health regulations, probably on Saturday afternoon, she added.

By MICHELLE WAYLAND

Updated 3:46 PM PDT, Sat, Apr 25, 2009

Swine flu is a respiratory illness that normally affects pigs, and only rarely spreads to humans, but in these recent cases the CDC says the patients had no direct contact with pigs.

California Department of Public Health confirms a seventh case of swine flu in the state -- and it's the third in Imperial County.

Swine Flu May be Spreading

Swine flu is a respiratory illness that normally affects pigs, and only rarely spreads to humans, but in these recent cases the CDC says the patients had...

A 35 year old woman was hospitalized April 4, she recovered and was later released.

At least two cases of the human swine influenza were also confirmed in Kansas Saturday, bringing the U.S. total to 12.

At least eight more are suspected in students at a New York City high school, but health officials say they don't know whether they have the same virus that has killed scores of people in Mexico.

A strain of the flu has killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico. The World Health Organization chief says the strain has "pandemic potential" and it may be too late to contain a sudden outbreak.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says besides the two confirmed cases in Kansas, there are nine in California and Texas.

To date, four cases of swine flu have been reported in San Diego County.

A 7-year-old male (Friday)
A 54-year-old male and his 16-year-old daughter (Thursday)
A 10-year-old male (Tuesday)
All have recovered. Officials say none were exposed to pigs, which is the typical way swine flu is transmitted.

“We have heightened our surveillance and put area healthcare providers on alert. This will most likely generate additional cases of human infection with swine influenza,” Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County Public Health Officer said Saturday.

The public is being advised to follow typical precautions, as they should during a regular flu season.

“If you are sick, do not go to work, school or travel. Cover your mouth when coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose, and wash your hands frequently,” Wooten said.

In Mexico, authorities have closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in the capital to try to contain an outbreak that has spurred concerns of a global flu epidemic.

A hot line fielded 2,366 calls in its first hours from frightened city residents who suspected they might have the disease. Soldiers and health workers handed out masks at subway stops, and hospitals dealt with crowds of people seeking help.

This virus is a mix of human, pig and bird strains that prompted WHO to meet Saturday to consider declaring an international public health emergency -- a step that could lead to travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures. Spokesman Gregory Hartl said a decision would not be made Saturday.

The CDC and Canadian health officials were studying samples sent from Mexico, and airports around the world were screening passengers from Mexico for symptoms of the new flu strain, saying they may quarantine passengers.

But CDC officials dismissed the idea of trying that in the United States, and some experts said it's too late to try to contain spread of the virus.

They noted there had been no direct contact between the cases in the San Diego and San Antonio areas, suggesting the virus had already spread from one geographic area through other undiagnosed people.

Testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the virus. The CDC is checking people who have been in contact with the confirmed cases, who all became ill between late March and mid-April.

Health experts say the last recorded death from swine flu in the U.S. was in 1976 and what is significant to the cases here is not the severity, but the strain.

"This is the very first time that it has been detected," Wooten, M.D., M.P.H said. And with all the attention, she says it's unlikely this is the last of it. "We definitely expect to find more because we're asking doctors to test."

Doctors say symptoms of this flu include fever, sore throat, coughing and nausea.

The CDC says two flu drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, seem effective against the new strain. Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, said the company is prepared to immediately deploy a stockpile of the drug if requested. Both drugs must be taken early, within a few days of the onset of symptoms, to be most effective.

Another good reason to close the border.

The NYC cases were from kids who traveled to Mexico on spring break as opposed to people wandering over the border. So far they have 8 confirmed cases from a private Catholic school, but around 100 students are complaining of flu-like symptoms.

Much ado about nothing.

more people die from any normal yearly strain of the flu than will from this.

Slow news week/month so the press had to play it up.

So how many have died from the over blown hype Swine flu and how many died this season from the tregular flu? Orders of magnitude difference.

It's all hype from the WHO to the "journalists". and if any of those "reporters" hyping this would do some homework they would see this is "much ado about nothing".

They closed a junior high school in our county about 20 minutes from here...they have two confirmed cases of it. School was set to be closed Friday and monday anyway, but they closed the school today and tomorrow.