Official Expects Swine Flu Deaths In U.S.

Swine Flu Fda At Least 5 Hospitalized Across Country As Confirmed Cases Top 60; Obama Requests $1.5 Billion To Fight Outbreak.

by CBS

Published: Tue, April 28, 2009 - 2:24 pm CST

A U.S. health official said at least five people are hospitalized with swine flu in the United States and deaths are likely.

"I fully expect we will see deaths form this infection," as swine flu cases are investigated, said Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

The hospitalizations include three in California and two in Texas, he said.

Besser said the country has 64 confirmed cases across five states, with 45 in New York, one in Ohio, two in Kansas, six in Texas and 10 in California. At least four other cases have been reported by states.

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said two people - an adult in Brooklyn and child in the Bronx - have been hospitalized. Their cases were separate from the outbreak at a private school in Queens. City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren are sick with suspected cases of swine flu.

Across the country, the Los Angeles County coroner's office was investigating the recent deaths of two men, 33 and 45 years old, for links to swine flu. Coroner's Capt. John Kades said the bodies were being tested but that there has been no confirmation the disease killed them.

Mexico has had more than 150 deaths believed to have been caused by swine flu, but there haven't been any confirmed swine flu deaths in the United States.

The U.S. has more than 60 reported cases of swine flu, mostly in New York City.

Federal officials suggested the flu may be spreading so fast, there may be no practical way to contain it, and no need to tighten borders further.

So far, there have been no deaths from the fast-spreading virus in the United States as health officials try to manage a looming crisis.

"Based on the pattern of illness we're seeing, we don't think this virus can be contained ... But we do think we can reduce the impact of its spread, and reduce its impact on health," Rear. Adm. Anne Schuchat, the CDC interim science and public health deputy director, told a Senate Appropriations health subcommittee.

"There's a lot of anxiety right now across the country," said subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

"It's important for people to know there's a lot that we can do," Schuchat told Harkin. "The investments that have been made in preparedness are making a difference."

Still, she warned, not only might the disease get worse, "it might get much worse."

"We don't have all the answers today," she added.

Mr. Obama sent a letter to lawmakers asking them for an emergency spending plan to build drug stockpiles and monitor future cases. He said the money will also help international efforts to battle the flu.

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs, who read the letter to reporters, said the flu outbreak requires "prudent planning" and not panic.

The World Health Organization raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it has ever been raised above Phase 3.

Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

Dr. Nancy Cox of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States happened on March 28. Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos said a sample taken from a 4-year-old boy in Mexico's Veracruz state in early April tested positive for swine flu. However, it is not known when the boy, who later recovered, became infected.

Meanwhile, government officials are racing to produce a swine flu vaccine.

Dr. Jesse Goodman, the Food and Drug Administration's swine flu chief, said Tuesday that scientists are working, in his words, "at 100 miles an hour" to create good raw material to deliver to vaccine manufacturers.

U.S. scientists hope to have a key ingredient for a swine flu vaccine ready in early May, but tell The Associated Press that the novel virus grows slowly in eggs - the chief way flu vaccines are made.

Even if all goes well, it still will take months before any shots are available for the necessary safety testing in volunteers.

Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.

Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States. The CDC estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.

Besser said that so far the virus in the United States seems less severe than in Mexico. Only one person has been hospitalized in the United States.

"I wouldn't be overly reassured by that," Besser told reporters at CDC headquarters.

Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. But Mexico's health minister implied late Monday it may have started in the United States.

"I think it is very risky to say, or want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there had already been cases reported in southern California and Texas," Cordova told a press conference.

Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.

In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled school nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation. The Cinco de Mayo parade celebrating Mexico's defeat of a French army on May 5, 1862 and Mexico City's traditional May 1 parade were canceled. More than 100 museums nationwide were closed.

At Mexico City's international airport, families grimly waited for flights out of the capital or country, determined to keep their masks on until they touched ground somewhere else.

Three games involving Mexico City soccer clubs were played with no spectators over the weekend. Decio de Maria, secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said plans for future matches would be announced on Wednesday.

"The idea is to look for the fewest number of games that have to be played behind closed doors," he said. "If it's necessary, we'll play all the matches behind closed doors. We don't foresee canceling any games."

Many residents of Mexico City wore blue surgical masks, even though the CDC said most masks offer little protection. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s - not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.

Global Spread Continues

Swine flu spread to the Middle East and the South Pacific on Tuesday, as New Zealand reported 11 confirmed cases and Israel said it had one. World health officials raced to contain the outbreak, raising a global alert level as more deaths were reported in Mexico.

Swine flu has already spread to seven countries and appears to be jumping borders via airplane flights. Those infected in New Zealand are a group of students and teachers who returned recently from a trip to Mexico, where the virus is suspected to have infected nearly 2,000 people and caused more than 150 deaths.

European Union officials reported Tuesday flu cases were also being probed in Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Ireland, in addition to Spain and Britain.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, which raised its alert level on Monday.

New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall reported 11 confirmed cases and said another 43 people were suspected of having the virus. All have been voluntarily quarrantined, along with their families.

Israeli Health Ministry laboratory tests confirmed swine flu in a 26-year-old patient who recently returned from Mexico in the Israeli city of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, according to Laniado Hospital's medical director.

In Europe, Spain reported a second confirmed case and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the country's two swine flu patients were improving.

"Both patients are in better health and ... one may leave the hospital today," Brown said on a visit to Poland.

Brown urged people to consult a doctor if they have health concerns but stressed that Britain is "among the best prepared countries in the world" to fight the spread of the disease.

Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said the second case, a 23-year-old student, one of 26 patients under observation, was not in serious condition.

The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States affected by the flu. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.

World stock markets fell sharply Tuesday as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery. Stocks of airlines, hotels and other travel-related companies already posted sharp losses Monday.

WKRG.com » News Stream » Medical