Mexico shuts schools
around capital in flu scare
By Noel Randewich and Armando
Tovar
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico
cancelled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital
city and surrounding area on Friday after influenza killed more
than 20 people in recent weeks.
The World Health Organisation said
it was concerned over what it called 800 "influenza-like" cases in
Mexico, and also about a confirmed outbreak of swine flu in the
United States.
U.S. health authorities were
unsure whether the outbreak of a new kind of swine flu in
California and Texas, which have borders with Mexico, was related
to the unusually late and severe flu season in that
country.
Mexican authorities say the flu
outbreak has killed around 20 people, but WHO said about 60 people
have died in the country.
The Geneva-based U.N. agency said
it was in daily contact with U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities
and had activated its Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC) --
its command and control centre for acute public health
events.
There have been some 800 suspected
cases with flu-like illness, with 57 deaths in the Mexico City
area, and a further 24 suspected cases and three deaths in San Luis
Potosi in central Mexico, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib
said.
Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel
Cordova said schools and universities in Mexico City and the
surrounding area would be temporarily closed on Friday and advised
people with flu symptoms to stay home from work.
"We're dealing with a new flu
virus that constitutes a respiratory epidemic that so far is
controllable," Cordova said late on
Thursday.[nN24310608]
Some 20 million people live in
Mexico City and the surrounding metropolitan area.
Canada's government advised
doctors to be on the alert for reports of illness from people who
recently travelled to Mexico, although it did not advise against
visiting the country, a popular destination for beach
vacations.
FLU SEASON USUALLY ENDS
EARLIER
Mexico's flu season normally ends
in February or March, but it has lasted longer this year, the
government said.
"We recommend avoiding places or
events with a lot of people unless strictly necessary," Cordova
said in an unusual late-night live statement to media.
About 79 people, possibly ill with
the flu, are being treated in Mexico and that number has not
increased in recent days, the health ministry said.
Worldwide, seasonal flu kills
between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year.
In the United States, seven people
have been diagnosed with a new kind of swine flu in California and
Texas, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported.
All seven people there have
recovered but the virus itself is a never-before-seen mixture of
viruses typical among pigs, birds and humans, the CDC
said.
"We are likely to find more
cases," the CDC's Dr Anne Schuchat said. "We don't think this is
time for major concern around the country.
Canadian officials have been
particularly sensitive to the international spread of respiratory
illnesses since Toronto was hit by the SARS epidemic in 2003, which
was blamed partly on a slow response to early disease
reports.
(Additional reporting by Maggie
Fox in Washington and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by
Frances Kerry, Editing by Kieran Murray)
