Mexico re-tests swine flu cases

Stricter swine flu tests have cut the number of confirmed deaths in Mexico, where the virus was first reported, from 20 to seven, authorities say. But officials warned the number of deaths likely to have been caused by swine flu has risen to 159 with more than 1,300 patients under observation. The number of cases globally is rising though no-one outside Mexico has died.
Germany has become the latest country to confirm cases of the virus, reporting three sufferers. Spain and the UK earlier confirmed two cases each and six other EU states have been monitoring patients suspected of having the virus.

At 64, the US has the greatest number of confirmed cases outside Mexico. The state of California has declared a state of emergency and President Barack Obama is asking Congress for an additional $1.5bn dollars to bolster the US response.
A US federal health official, Dr Richard Besser of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Tuesday: "As we continue to investigate cases here, I expect that we will see deaths in this country."
Canada, New Zealand and Israel have also detected the virus, and other states with suspected cases include Australia, South Korea and Peru.

Confusion

In Mexico, there is some confusion over exactly how many people died from the virus, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs reports. This is largely because the government is now subjecting the samples it has from deceased patients to a more laborious verification process. Meanwhile, the search for the source of the outbreak continues, with the focus on the vicinity of a pig farm in the eastern part of the country. The Mexican government is urging against jumping to conclusions and is suggesting the possibility remains that the virus originated outside the country, our correspondent adds.

The World Health Organisation has called a meeting of scientific experts for Wednesday to discuss the situation and the exact nature of the outbreak. arlier, it confirmed that the flu was being transmitted between humans and called on countries to check their contingency plans for a possible pandemic. But the WHO also urged caution, saying measures like travel bans were unlikely to prove effective. Spain is one of the countries outside the Americas most vulnerable to the virus because of the sheer volume of its air passenger traffic with Mexico. It has two confirmed cases of swine flu and a further 32 people are undergoing tests.

The government says the situation is "under control", that no lives are at risk and that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission within Spain. Instead, it says all those under observation fell ill after visiting Mexico. All incoming passengers from that country and the US are being asked to fill in forms with medical information and contact details and airlines have been ordered to carry surgical masks. With more than 30,000 passengers a month travelling from Mexico to Madrid, swine flu is a logistical challenge, the BBC's Steve Kingstone reports from the Spanish capital. The authorities are preparing for the long haul, our correspondent says. (Begini nih, kalo larangan ayat Allah ttg babi dilanggar......)