Spread of swine flu feared (2024)

Fears of a swine flu epidemic grew yesterday as public health officials struggled to understand a novel viral strain that has killed as many as 70 people in Mexico and infected a fourth person in San Diego County.

As researchers braced for the toll to grow, Mexico’s government canceled school for 7 million children, shuttered museums and theaters, banned public events and urged the sick not to travel – especially by plane.

The number of cases in San Diego County is almost certain to rise as detection efforts ramp up at doctors’ offices, clinics and hospital emergency rooms, the region’s infectious-disease experts said.

But they dismissed any immediate need for aggressive efforts to control the disease’s spread, such as closing schools. They urged patients with flu symptoms to consult their physicians and avoid public places.

Despite efforts to forestall panic, the quickly expanding disease is causing global alarm after infecting more than 1,000 people in Mexico. It’s probably too late to contain the outbreak, said leaders of the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHO officials are focused on monitoring infection patterns and stocking up on supplies of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza to help treat the symptoms. They also will convene a panel to consider whether to raise the pandemic alert level and issue travel advisories.

“We are very, very concerned,” said Thomas Abraham, a spokesman for the agency. “We have what appears to be a novel (strain), and it has spread from human to human. ... It’s all hands on deck at the moment.”

President Barack Obama was briefed on the swine flu’s spread yesterday, and his health advisers are tracking the situation.

At the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa border crossings, U.S. customs officials were given masks to wear if they wished. Federal health officials continued to keep the U.S.-Mexico border open as of last night.

Epidemiologists said people should take common-sense steps to avoid spreading influenza, such as washing their hands and covering their mouths when they sneeze.

“We are asking people if they do have the flu to not travel. ... We do not want them to go to work or go to school,” said Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego County’s public health officer.

Eight people in the United States – including two in Imperial County and two in San Antonio – have been diagnosed with swine flu since last week and have recovered. All of them live along the U.S.-Mexico border region, but it’s unclear whether they had any contact with patients in Mexico.

In Mexico, the World Health Organization is helping local health experts track cases and pursue the outbreak’s origins. Its officials yesterday confirmed that 20 of the dead had swine flu, and they’re investigating about 50 other cases.

Most of the fatalities died from swine-flu-induced pneumonia.

WHO has identified four patients from Mexicali, but the Baja California health department said there were none. The flu viruses circulating in that region are commonly seen in winter months, said Ernesto Macareno Alvarado, a director for the state’s health agency.

Still, Alvarado expected to soon find swine flu patients in Tijuana because of the constant flow of people from other parts of Mexico to the border region.

His agency has booths at Tijuana’s central bus station and airport that inform travelers about local health resources, including ways to minimize exposure to the flu.

Some pharmacies in Tijuana have recommended that their employees wear surgical masks. Otherwise, it was business as usual yesterday for the city’s hospitals and health centers.

Mexico’s federal leaders said they don’t intend to restrict domestic or foreign travel, but they vowed to mount a huge immunization campaign in their nation’s capital in the coming days.

They also asked residents to refrain from shaking hands or giving the common Mexican greeting to a woman of a kiss on the right cheek.

Seven samples of the swine flu strain detected in Mexico appear to match the one seen across the border, CDC officials said yesterday afternoon during a special media conference in Atlanta. Yet it’s unclear why Mexico has been hit so much harder than the United States.

Public health leaders asked people to remain patient and not panic.

“We still do not have enough information (about the dangers of the disease). It’s really critically important that we learn more about what is going on in Mexico,” said Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC. “People are concerned. ... We are worried as well.”

The latest patient from San Diego County is a 7-year-old boy who has recovered. County health officials won’t disclose details about where he or any of the other local patients live, but Wooten said yesterday that they’re spread across the region.

As with other types of influenza, swine flu typically creates a mild infection that lasts about a week. But its rarity in humans and the lack of a vaccine for people mean that few individuals have antibodies to fight off the disease. That could lead to a lightning-fast spread.

Researchers expressed concern about the types of people being infected by the new swine flu strain. Standard human flu viruses usually cause serious symptoms in the very young, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

The latest swine flu variation seems to be disproportionately affecting teens and young adults, who typically enjoy robust health and strong resistance to disease.

Scientists in the United States are looking for a connection between the California and Texas cases.

Besser said the CDC also has taken initial steps toward making a swine flu vaccine but hasn’t “made any decision about the need for manufacturing (it).”

The agency’s investigators said the unique genetic makeup of the current swine flu viruses could signal a new mutation. Or the strain could have existed for some time but was discovered only now because of more vigorous efforts to track infectious diseases, they said.

These viruses have genetic elements of four known influenza strains – a North American swine virus, a North American bird virus, a human virus and a swine virus typically found in Europe and Asia.

Within each species, influenza strains mutate periodically. They also occasionally jump from one species to another, such as from a pig to a pig-farm worker, but seldom spread to more people.

In San Diego County, about two dozen employees at the Health and Human Services Agency are tracking swine flu, along with seven state and federal investigators. They collect nasal swabs and blood samples from flu patients and look for clues about the spread of the disease.

Once they identify a case of swine flu, the health officials interview the patient and people he or she may have infected. They check everything from where people traveled to what medications they’ve taken.

County officials also are working to make sure they have enough lab supplies to handle a major rise in demand for testing specimens from patients with flu symptoms.

It remains unclear whether existing antiviral drugs are effective against the new strain of swine flu. The California patients were successfully treated with them, said Dr. Francesca Torriani, medical director of the infection prevention and clinical epidemiology unit at UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest.

“There’s no reason to suspect this flu can’t be treated with standard antivirals, but much more research and testing must be done,” Torriani said.

Staff writer Scott LaFee, Tijuana-based freelance writer Omar Millán González and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mike Lee: (619) 542-4570; mike.lee@uniontrib.com