Swine Flu Spreads to China, Kills Third Person In The U.s.
A 30-year-old student developed symptoms after his return from the U.S., Chinas health ministry said yesterday. A man in his 30s in Snohomish County, Washington, with “underlying heart conditions” died last week from what appeared to be swine flu- related complications, the states health department said.
The genetic blueprint of the new H1N1 virus sweeping the globe is “good news,” said Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Schuchat told reporters in a call from Atlanta that swine flu may yet exchange genetic material with other viruses and mutate into something worse.
“The good news so far is that the virulence markers for the 1918 and H5N1 influenza viruses do not appear in the H1N1 strain,” Schuchat said. “What we dont know is whether there may be other virulence markers. Remember the first wave of the 1918 virus was mild and the next wave was devastating.”
Chinas first swine flu patient, a student surnamed Bao at the University of Missouri, developed a fever and cough on a May 9 flight from Beijing to Chengdu city and checked himself into a hospital because he felt unwell, the countrys health ministry said on its Web site. He flew to Beijing from St. Louis, Missouri, via Tokyo, the ministry said.
Less Severe
Swine flu has sickened at least 4,379 people in 29 countries, including 49 who died, according to figures from the World Health Organization yesterday. The numbers exclude the Washington and China cases.
As swine flu spreads, its symptoms have been less severe than suggested by the first fatalities in Mexico, where most of the deaths occurred.
How the virus behaves as the Southern Hemisphere flu season begins, and whether it comes roaring back in the U.S. in a nastier form later, depends in part on whether its traits hold steady, mutate, or mingle with the deadly H5N1 bird flu circulating in Asia, Schuchat said.
A 53-year-old Costa Rican with pneumonia died from complications associated with the flu on May 9, according to that countrys Ministry of Health, becoming the first fatality outside the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The U.S. had 2,532 cases, including three deaths, in 44 states as of 11 a.m. on May 10, according to the CDC.
“Its too soon to say things are getting better,” Schuchat said. “Were still accelerating.”
Mexico confirmed 1,626 cases with 48 deaths, Health Ministry spokesman Carlos Olmos said. Stringent measures beginning with the national closing of schools saved more than 8,000 lives, Mexican officials said.
Norways Institute of Public Health said on May 9 that two people aged in their 20s who returned home recently from Mexico were infected.
Japan confirmed a fourth case and Australias Chief Medical Officer, Jim Bishop, told Nine Network television that more infections are inevitable in that country. Both nations confirmed their first cases on May 9. Hong Kong said it was holding two travelers for observation, after it released 351 people from a week-long quarantine.
Singapore today lowered its outbreak alert level to yellow from orange, saying the virus “seems milder than originally feared.”
No Sustained Spread
The WHO hasnt seen sustained, person-to-person spread of the disease outside North America, so the agencys pandemic alert will remain at phase 5, the second-highest level, Sylvie Briand, acting director of the WHOs global influenza program, said on May 8. The alert wont be raised unless theres evidence of community spread in another part of the world, she said.
Swine flu investigators in Mexico are trying to understand why some young adults died rapidly from influenza infections that usually kill people who are very young or very old, Briand said during a conference call with reporters from Geneva.