Germany's Berlin-based center for disease control, the Robert Koch Institute, confirmed on Wednesday that three people in the country have been diagnosed with H1N1, a potentially deadly form of swine flu. In the southern German state of Bavaria, a top health official provided details about two people carrying the virus there. Bavarian Health Minister Markus Söder said during a press conference that the two diagnosed had returned to Germany from a trip to Mexico. Both patients, he said, were already recovering from the illness.
The first cases of swine flu have been reported in Germany, but so far none of the patients is in serious condition.
Söder said the general situation is serious and people should pay close attention -- but, he said, there is no reason for panic. A crisis task force has been assembled in the state and is working around the clock, and more people are being tested for swine flu. If ill Germans are worried, he said, they should visit a doctor.
One German patient recently returned from a trip to Mexico had mild flu symptoms. The 37-year-old woman from the town of Kulmbach contacted her doctor to get treatment. "Now she's not having any problems," Andreas Zapf, the head of the Bavrian State Office for Health and Food Safety, told reporters at a press conference.
Tests and Tamiflu
Zapf said a second case reported in the state had been "medically somewhat more complex." The man, in his late 30s, from the city of Regensburg, had also been in Mexico and was suffering from another underlying illness. Zapf would not name the illness for reasons of privacy. But he did say the swine flu had increased the threat of complications. The man is being treated in the hospital with Tamiflu and no longer has a fever. In terms of the infection, there had been a "clear improvement," he said.
Germany's third confirmed case is in a 22-year-old woman who returned to Hamburg from Mexico with flu-like symptoms and had been admitted to a local hospital. Hamburg's public health office said it was contacting people she had come into contact with to alert them about the threat of an H1N1 infection. The patient was immediately put into an isolated room at the hospital and has been given treatment with the appropriate medication, and hospital officials said she was doing well.
Elsewhere in Germany, suspected swine flu infections have been reported in the eastern state of Saxony, as well as Lower Saxony in the west. But Chancellor Angela Merkel said the government was ready to meet an outbreak. "We are prepared in every respect, so people in Germany can trust that the government will do both what's possible and what's necessary," she said on Wednesday. "We are aware that this is an international challenge for which the European Union luckily is well prepared."
The government has also set up a German hotline to report suspected cases: 0185-996619.
Meanwhile, in Spain, authorities have confirmed 10 cases of the disease -- including one victim who has not recently visited Mexico. Suspected cases have also been reported in many other countries, including France, Belgium, Switzerland and Chile. In Austria, officials with the Health Ministry in Vienna confirmed that a 28-year-old woman had been infected with H1N1, and a total of five cases were confirmed in Great Britain.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said a 12-year-old girl from Torbay in southwest England was among those infected. Her school has been temporarily closed, and other students have been given special medication.
So far none of the European patients is in serious condition.
With the number of cases spreading globally, the World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert for the deadly virus from phase three to phase four -- confirming "sustained" human-to-human transmission of the disease, as opposed to just animal infections. Keiji Fukuda, WHO acting assistant director-general, said raising the alert to phase five, or human-to-human transmission in "at least two countries" of one region, was not out of the question.
"It appears we are moving closer to that," said Fukuda, "but we are not there yet."
Daily Life in Mexico Grinds to a Halt
In Mexico, meanwhile, the number of people believed to have been killed by H1N1 has risen to 159. Further cases of the illness are being reported in the United States, Canada and Costa Rica. In Mexico the country's health minister, Jose Angel Cordova, lowered the number of officially confirmed H1N1 deaths from 20 to seven, noting that only seven of the victims fulfilled more stringent criteria provided by the World Health Organization for detecting the virus. (That number could rise.) Cordova said health authorities in Mexico had counted 2,498 possible infections. Of those patients, 1,311 remained in the hospital.
Fear of swine flu has brought daily life in Mexico to a halt. Schools and universities remain closed in the capital, Mexico City, and so do sporting facilities, cinemas and theaters. Restaurants are only allowed to fill take-out orders. Archeological sites popular with tourists across the country, including world-famous Aztec and Mayan ruins, have been shut until further notice. During a session of parliament, elected officials wore face masks.
In the US, the number of confirmed cases of H1N1 has risen to 66. A 23-month-old toddler in Texas has become the first death officially attributable to swine flu outside Mexico.
In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, but maintained there was no reason to panic. Los Angeles officials are investigating one death they fear may have been caused by swine flu. US President Barack Obama has called on Congress to make $1.5 billion available to fight the virus.
Costa Rica has become the first Central American country to confirm cases of swine flu in humans. And in Canada, the number of confirmed infections has risen from 8 to 13. Earlier, cases had been reported in New Zealand, Israel and EU member states Spain and Great Britain.
Health officials around the world are scrambling to provide an action plan to stop the spread of the virus. WHO has called for a meeting on Wednesday of health experts from all of the countries where infections have been confirmed to report their findings. Officials are also expected to discuss a global initiative to halt the spread of the flu.
Around the world, countries have implemented stricter security at airports. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan have all stated that travellers passing through with flu-like symptoms will be immediately placed in quarantine. And on Tuesday, Cuba became the first country to halt all flights to Mexico for a 48-hour period. Argentina has also stated that all flights from Mexico will be cancelled until Sunday.
Meanwhile, both the European Union and the United States are calling for swine flu to be renamed. The current name suggests that there is a problem with pork products, said US Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, but the flu cannot be spread through the consumption of pork. Vilsak warned the virus name could be economically damaging for pig farmers.
Around the world, scientists are also working flat out to develop a vaccine for swine flu.
dsl -- with wires
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