The next big flu?: Police officers patrol the streets of Mexico City wearing masks to ward off infection by the new multi-strain swine flu virus.
Credit: AFP
MEXICO CITY: World health officials have stepped up the battle against a new swine flu blamed for dozens of deaths in Mexico, as the U.S. declared a public emergency amid signs the disease is spreading.
The United States is screening visitors arriving from infected areas, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Monday (Sydney time), as 20 cases were confirmed in five states.
Suspected cases were also being investigated in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and six new infections were confirmed in Canada.
Aggressive response
Authorities in Mexico, where the new multi-strain swine flu was first detected, confirmed 20 people have died and warned the death toll could be as high as 81. Five people were said to have died in the capital in the past 24 hours.
"As we look for cases of swine flu, we are seeing more cases of swine flu," Richard Besser, the acting head of the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), told a White House press conference. Besser said there were eight confirmed cases in New York City, seven in California, two in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio.
U.S. President Barack Obama is monitoring the swine flu outbreak closely and has ordered a "very active, aggressive, and coordinated response," said White House homeland security advisor John Brennan.
World Health Organisation officials warned the new strain, apparently born when human and avian flu viruses infected pigs and became mixed, could further mutate.
"Yes, it's quite possible for this virus to evolve,"
Surgical masks
Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general for health, security and the environment, told journalists in Geneva. "When viruses evolve, clearly they can become more dangerous to people."
The WHO has already recommended that all nations "intensify surveillance for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia."
As thousands of panicked Mexicans wore surgical masks on the streets and sought to avoid physical contact, President Felipe Calderon called for calm, urging citizens to work with authorities to contain the virus.
Calderon said if people can make timely medical visits, Mexico "can contain this outbreak."
