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World moves to contain spread of swine flu 103 die so far in Mexico

BBC Online, London
Governments around the world are hurrying to contain the spread of a new swine flu virus after outbreaks were reported in Mexico, the US and Canada.
At least 100 people are now suspected to have died of the disease in Mexico.
The UN has warned the virus has the potential to become a pandemic, but said the world was better prepared than ever to deal with the threat.
Stocks of anti-viral medicines are being readied and travellers are being screened at some airports for symptoms.
’ Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said suspected swine flu cases in his country had risen to 1,614.
Of the 103 deaths in Mexico, only 20 are so far confirmed to have been caused by the new virus.
A public health emergency has been declared in the US, where 20 people are confirmed to have caught the virus. There are also confirmed cases in Canada, and investigations are being carried out on possible cases in six other countries.
In most cases outside Mexico, people have been only mildly ill and have made a full recovery.
In other developments, tests are also being carried out on individuals or groups in New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Brazil, Britain and Israel who fell ill following travel to Mexico, World Health Organisation (WHO) experts will meet in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss whether to raise the pandemic alert level and the European Commission also said it was calling an urgent meeting of health ministers to discuss the situation.
The global outbreak of swine flu spread fear of economic contagion through financial markets and the travel sector yesterday, blighting any green shoots of recovery from the financial crisis, AFP adds.
The travel and tourism sectors were hit particularly hard by memories of how the bird flu scare that began in 2003 had reduced the number of travellers and cost the airline sector billions of dollars.
The latest swine fever scare scythed through stock markets, cutting back gains made last week on some signs that the global economic cnsis may be bottomingout.
But some pharmaceutical groups were in fine form on prospects for sales of their flu treatments and related supplies.
Wall Street showed an opening fall of 0.96 percent after losses in Europe of 0.71 to 2.54 percent, a slight gain in Tokyo where the yen firmed against a flu-weakened dollar, and sharp falls in Hong Kong and South Korea attributed mainly to flu fever.
BBC says the World Bank is providing Mexico with more than $200m in loans to help it deal with the outbreak while shares in airlines have fallen sharply on fears about the economic impact of the outbreak.
The WHO - the UN's health agency - has meanwhile said that swine flu virus could be capable of mutating into a more dangerous strain. But officials say they need more information on the virus to determine the threat it poses.
Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director-general in charge of health security, said all countries were "looking at this situation very seriously".
"But it's also clear that we are in a period in which the picture is evolving... (and that] we have to be very careful to collect the best possible information,” hesaid.
The WHO is advising all countries to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneu-monia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, a characteristic of past pandemics.
Most of those who have died so far in Mexico were young adults. The H1N1 virus is the same strain that causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans but the newly detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu which usually affect pigs and birds.
There is currently no vaccine for the new strain, but severe cases can be treated with antiviral medication. Dr Fukuda said years of preparing for bird flu had boosted world stocks of antivirals.
In the US, eight cases have been confirmed among New York students, seven in California, two in in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio.
"1 do fear that we will have deaths," Dr Anne Schuchat of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDO told reporters.
The Canadian cases were recorded at opposite ends of the country: two in British Columbia jn.the west.andfour in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia. Several other people are being tested lor the virus in countries around the world.
A number of countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe have begun screening airport passengers for symptoms.
Russia, China and Thailand have banned imports of raw-pork and pork products from Mexico and pans of the US. But Dr Fukuda said that there was no evidence to link exposure to pork with infection.
In the Mexican capital schools, bars and public buildings remain closed and many people are choosing to stay indoors.
Some people are beginning to worry about the effects swine flu is having on their livelihoods and the Mexican economy in general.
Fear of the virus is expected to lead to many tourists cancelling their holidays and Mexican exports are already beginning to be affected.