The swine flu outbreak that has alarmed the world for a week now appears less
ominous, with the virus showing little staying power in the hardest-hit cities
and scientists suggesting it lacks the genetic fortitude of past killer bugs.
President Barack Obama even voiced hope Friday that it may turn out to be no
more harmful than the average seasonal flu.
In New York City, which has the most confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. with
49, swine flu has not spread far beyond cases linked to one Catholic school. In
Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, very few relatives of flu victims seem to
have caught it.
A flu expert said he sees no reason to believe the virus is particularly lethal.
And a federal scientist said the germ's genetic makeup lacks some traits seen in
the deadly 1918 flu pandemic strain and the more recent killer bird flu.
Still, it was too soon to be certain what the swine flu virus will do. Experts
say the only wise course is to prepare for the worst. But in a world that's been
rattled by the specter of a global pandemic, glimmers of hope were more than
welcome Friday.
"It may turn out that H1N1 runs its course like ordinary flus, in which case we
will have prepared and we won't need all these preparations," Obama said, using
the flu's scientific name.
The president stressed the government was still taking the virus very seriously,
adding that even if this round turns out to be mild, the bug could return in a
deadlier form during the next flu season.
New York officials said after a week of monitoring the disease that the city's
outbreak gives little sign of spreading beyond a few pockets or getting more
dangerous.
All but two of the city's confirmed cases so far involve people associated with
the high school where the local outbreak began and where several students had
recently returned from Mexico.
More than 1,000 students, parents and faculty there reported flu symptoms over
just a few days last month. But since then, only a handful of new infections
have been reported — only eight students since last Sunday.
Almost everyone who became ill before then are either recovering or already
well. The school, which was closed this past week, is scheduled to reopen
Monday. No new confirmed cases were identified in the city on Friday, and Mayor
Michael Bloomberg said the outbreak in New York had so far proved to be "a
relatively minor annoyance."
In Mexico, where swine flu has killed at least 16 people and the confirmed case
count has surpassed 300, the health secretary said few of the relatives of 86
suspected swine flu patients had caught the virus. Only four of the 219
relatives surveyed turned up as probable cases.
As recently as Wednesday, Mexican authorities said there were 168 suspected
swine flu deaths in the country and almost 2,500 suspected cases. The officials
have stopped updating that number and say those totals may have even been
inflated.
Mexico shut down all but essential government services and private businesses
Friday, the start of a five-day shutdown that includes a holiday weekend.
Authorities there will use the break to determine whether emergency measures can
be eased.
In the Mexican capital, there were no reports of deaths overnight — the first
time that has happened since the emergency was declared a week ago, said Mayor
Marcelo Ebrard.
"This isn't to say we are lowering our guard or we think we no longer have
problems," Ebrard said. "But we're moving in the right direction."
The U.S. case count rose to 155 on Friday, based on federal and state counts,
although state laboratory operators believe the number is higher because they
are not testing all suspected cases.
Worldwide, the total confirmed cases neared 600, although that number is also
believed to be much larger. Besides the U.S. and Mexico, the virus has been
detected in Canada, New Zealand, China, Israel and eight European nations.
There were still plenty of signs Friday of worldwide concern.
China decided to suspend flights from Mexico to Shanghai because of a case of
swine flu confirmed in a flight from Mexico, China's state-run Xinhua News
Agency reported.
And in Hong Kong, hundreds of hotel guests and workers were quarantined after a
tourist from Mexico tested positive for swine flu, Asia's first confirmed case.
Evoking the 2003 SARS outbreak, workers in protective suits and masks wiped down
tables, floors and windows. Guests at the hotel waved to photographers from
their windows.
Scientists looking closely at the H1N1 virus itself have found some encouraging
news, said Nancy Cox, flu chief at the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Its genetic makeup doesn't show specific traits that showed up in
the 1918 pandemic virus, which killed about 40 million to 50 million people
worldwide.
"However, we know that there is a great deal that we do not understand about the
virulence of the 1918 virus or other influenza viruses" that caused serious
illnesses, Cox said. "So we are continuing to learn."
She told The Associated Press that the swine flu virus also lacked genetic
traits associated with the virulence of the bird flu virus, which grabbed
headlines a few years ago and has killed 250 people, mostly in Asia.
Researchers will get a better idea of how dangerous this virus is over the next
week to 10 days, said Peter Palese, a leading flu researcher with Mount Sinai
Medical School in New York.
So far in the United States, he said, the virus appears to look and behave like
the garden-variety flus that strike every winter. "There is no real reason to
believe this is a more serious strain," he said.
Palese said many adults probably have immune systems primed to handle the virus
because it is so similar to another common flu strain.
As for why the illness has predominantly affected children and teenagers in New
York, Palese said older people probably have more antibodies from exposure to
similar types of flu that help them fight off infection.
"The virus is so close," he said.
In the United States, most of the people with swine flu have been treated at
home. Only nine people are known to have ended up in the hospital, though
officials suspect there are more.
In Mexico, officials have voiced optimism for two days that the worst may be
over. But Dr. Scott F. Dowell of the CDC said it's hard to know whether the
outbreak is easing up in Mexico. "They're still seeing plenty of cases," Dowell
said.
He said outbreaks in any given area might be relatively brief, so that they may
seem to be ending in some areas that had a lot of illness a few weeks ago. But
cases are occurring elsewhere, and national numbers in Mexico are not abating,
he said.
A top Mexican medical officer questioned the World Health Organization's
handling of the early signs of the swine flu scare, suggesting Thursday that a
regional arm of the WHO had taken too long to notify WHO headquarters of about a
unusually late rash of flu cases in Mexico.
The regional agency, however, provided a timeline to the AP suggesting it was
Mexico that failed to respond to its request to alert other nations to the first
hints of the outbreak.
The Mexican official, chief epidemiologist Dr. Miguel Angel Lezana, backtracked
Friday, telling Radio Formula: "There was no delay by the Mexican authorities,
nor was there any by the World Health Organization."
In the U.S., Obama said efforts were focused on identifying people who have the
flu, getting medical help to the right places and providing clear advice to
state and local officials and the public.
The president also said the U.S. government is working to produce a vaccine down
the road, developing clear guidelines for school closings and trying to ensure
businesses cooperate with workers who run out of sick leave.
He pointed out that regular seasonal flus kill about 36,000 people in the United
States in an average year and send 200,000 to the hospital.
Source : Associated Press
