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WHO: Swine Flu Could Trigger Global Pandemic
Unheard of new strain is hybrid resulting from a combination
of four different viruses
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 The
World Health Organization has warned that a new form of influenza
that may have spread from Mexico into the U.S. could develop
into a pandemic-type virus.
Hundreds of people in Mexico have been infected
and 60 have died from suspected swine flu, while seven human
cases have been confirmed in the United States, a World
Health Organisation spokeswoman has said.
U.S. labs are still running tests on the Mexican
strain of the virus, results of which will be released by the
will be released later today by the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
At this point it is not yet clear whether the
two strains are the same. Some media reports have failed to
make this clear, while the Drudge
report has jumped in head first declaring an "OUTBREAK"
with a giant frothing red headline.
Five of the U.S. cases were recorded in California
with a further two in Texas. The first two cases in Southern
California appeared almost simultaneously, 100 miles apart,
indicating that the virus can silently spread. Neither case
was due to contact with swine, and family members had symptoms
before and after the confirmed cases, indicating that the H1N1
swine flu is being efficiently transmitted human to human.
Most of the Mexican cases were found in healthy
young adults with no known record of prior illness, according
to reports.
Schools in Mexico City and the surrounding areas
have been temporarily closed and people with flu symptoms have
been advised
to stay home from work. The Mexican government
has launched
a huge vaccination campaign.
A constantly updated map of the cases swine flu
can be viewed here.
(Article continues below)
The WHO has also pointed out that pigs have been
implicated in the emergence of new influenza viruses responsible
for two of the previous century's influenza pandemics, including
the 1918 pandemic strain which spread to nearly every part of
the world killing an estimated 2.5 to 5% of the human population
- somewhere in the region of 50 million to 100 million people.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and
Control has reiterated the WHO comments, writing on it's website:
"The infection of humans with a novel influenza
A virus infection of animal origins as has happened here is
of concern because of the risk, albeit small, that this could
represent the appearance of viruses with pandemic potential."
According to scientists at the CDC, genetic analysis indicates
that the virus is "highly unusual":
"It is a hybrid that resulted from a combination of four
different viruses -- one that typically infects people, one
that originated in North American birds and two from pigs in
Europe and Asia," Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told
the Washington
Post.
"The good news is all seven of these patients have recovered,"
she said. The virus appears to be resistant to two drugs normally
used to treat the flu, but two others appear to be effective
against it.
"This combination has not been recognized before in the
U.S. or elsewhere," Schuchat said.
Other scientists have warned that if a pig is simultaneously
infected with a human and an avian influenza virus, it can serve
as a "mixing vessel" for the two viruses that could
combine to create a new more virulent strain.
Though this story has broken in the mainstream media today,
authorities have been tracking it for some time. One week ago,
the Public
Health Agency of Canada contacted health and quarantine services
to inform them that Mexican health authorities had advised Canada
to be on alert for possible infections.
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