Is this it?
Global flu fears as 68 die and virus spreads
• BA cabin steward in isolation ward • Mexico invokes special measures
A British Airways cabin steward is being treated in an isolation unit at a London hospital after falling ill on a flight from Mexico, where a killer virus is believed to have caused at least 68 deaths and sparked widespread panic. Health experts say it has the potential to become a global pandemic.
The BA steward was undergoing tests in a London hospital for the swine flu virus after arriving on a flight from Mexico City. It is the first suspected case of the new flu strain to be reported in Europe, prompting fears it may have spread across the Atlantic from Mexico.
The World Health Organisation says the swine flu strain - a unique mix of human, pig and bird viruses - constituted a public health emergency of international concern. Twenty people are known to have died in Mexico so far out of a total of 1,004 reported cases, and 48 more deaths are thought to be attributable to the outbreak.
At least nine swine flu cases have been reported in California and Texas. The most recently reported California case, the seventh there, was a 35-year-old woman who was treated in hospital but recovered. The woman, whose illness began in early April, had no known contact with the other cases.
At least two more cases have been confirmed in Kansas, bringing the US total to 11. State health officials said yesterday they had confirmed swine flu in a married couple living in the central part of the state after the husband visited Mexico. They have not been hospitalised, and the state described their illnesses as mild. Dr Jason Eberhart-Phillips, Kansas's state health officer, said: "Fortunately, the man and woman understand the gravity of the situation and are very willing to isolate themselves."
Additionally, at least eight students at a New York high school were last night also believed to have a form of human swine flu, but authorities are not yet certain if it is the same strain that has killed people in Mexico.
The 38-year-old BA steward is being kept in Northwick Park hospital in north-west London, which has a specialist ward for patients with suspected tropical and infectious diseases, while doctors carry out swabs and blood tests. A Health Protection Agency spokeswoman said: "We are aware of a patient admitted to a London hospital with reported travel history to Mexico. As a precautionary measure the patient is being tested for a range of respiratory and other illnesses ... At present there have been no confirmed cases of human swine flu in the UK or anywhere in Europe."
The crew member, who flew out to Mexico on 20 April, is understood to have shown symptoms of fever before embarking yesterday for the return leg to Heathrow. He had been suffering from high temperature, aches and dizziness the night before the return flight but was allowed through health controls at Mexico City airport to report for duty.
He collapsed around two hours into the flight, and was isolated from the other passengers. None of the other crew members or passengers reported similar symptoms. A BA spokeswoman said: "We can confirm one of our cabin crew felt unwell during the flight from Mexico and was taken to hospital on arrival at Heathrow. The Port Health Authority met the flight at Heathrow and no other passengers or crew were detained."
The Mexican government yesterday issued a decree authorising President Felipe Calderón to invoke powers allowing the country's health department to isolate patients and inspect homes, travellers and baggage. Mexico's health secretary, José Angel Córdova, said: "We are very, very concerned."
Yesterday, people in Mexico City were being ordered not to kiss or shake hands. Football matches went ahead without spectators, theatres, shops and museums were closed, staff were inside locked schools scrubbing classrooms with disinfectant, and health workers patrolled buses, ordering sickly looking people home.
The WHO stopped short of issuing a worldwide alert over the swine flu strain, but its director general, Dr Margaret Chan, said that option remained "on the table".
Scientists have long feared that a new flu virus could launch a worldwide pandemic. Evolving when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material, a hybrid could spread quickly because humans would have no natural defences.
"We are seeing a range of severity of the disease, from mild to severe, and of course death," said Chan. "The eight cases in the US have been mild in terms of severity and it is too premature to calculate the mortality rate of this disease."
Any doubts over the extent of the emergency were dispelled last night by the sight of soldiers handing out blue surgical masks to pedestrians and motorists along Mexico City's central boulevard, Paseo de la Reforma. With TV and radio calling on the population to seek medical advice for any flu-like symptoms, queues grew at clinics and hospitals across the city.
Calderón said his government learned only on Thursday night what kind of virus Mexico was facing after tests by specialist laboratories in Canada confirmed the outbreak as a type - labelled A/H1N1 - not previously seen in pigs or humans. Few of the cases appear to have had any contact with live pigs.
The WHO said the virus appeared to be able to spread from human to human and contained human virus, avian virus and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.
Given how quickly flu can spread, there might be cases incubating around the world already, said Dr Michael Osterholm at the University of Minnesota: "Hundreds and thousands of travellers come in and out [of Mexico] every day."
It was unclear how much protection current vaccines might offer. A "seed stock" genetically matched to the new virus has already been created by the US Centres for Disease Control. If the US government decides vaccine production is necessary, it would be used by manufacturers to get started.
At Mexico City's international airport, passengers were questioned to try to prevent anyone with flu symptoms from boarding aircraft and spreading the disease. The Foreign Office issued a warning to UK travellers about the outbreak, but stopped short of recommending people did not visit Mexico. US health officials took a similar line, urging visitors to wash their hands frequently.
posted by George A. at
10:47 PM
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