First swine flu death in Canada, as US cases double
May 8, 2009 by Michel ComteThe Americas were back in the spotlight over swine flu fears Friday as Canada announced its first death, the number of US infections almost doubled, and more cases were found in Latin America.
US President Barack Obama warned the United States was not out of the woods yet, as across the nation's northern border a woman in western Alberta province became the first person in Canada to succumb to the disease.
"We have our first fatality in Alberta that is associated with the H1N1 flu," said Andre Corriveau, the province's chief medical officer.
"This is the first one in Canada that we can document that is related to H1N1," he said, adding "there were also a number of underlying medical conditions."
Canada has the third highest number of swine flu infections with 224 cases, but the United States overtook Mexico on Friday to become the country with the most number of patients recording 1,639 cases in 43 states.
Mexico, which was the epicenter of the worldwide epidemic, raised its swine flu death toll to 45, with the confirmed cases going up to 1,319, of which more than half were younger than 20. Two people have also died in the US.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that 2,500 people in 26 countries had tested positive for the A(H1N1) virus.
As the number of US cases jumped overnight with more tests put in place, Obama warned Americans to remain vigilant.
"We are seeing that the virus may not have been as virulent as we at first feared," Obama said at a Spanish-language town hall meeting at the White House.
"But we are not out of the woods yet. We still have to take precautions."
The US president warned the autumn and winter flu season later in the year could see cases spike again. Health authorities "believe we are going to have to keep on taking precautions and we may have to prepare for an even worse flu season sometime in the fall," he said.
South of the US border, Panama became the latest Central American nation to confirm a case of the A(H1N1) virus while Guatemala said it had two people who had caught the disease. Uruguay also stepped up surveillance at ports and along the border.
Panamanian Health Minister Rosario Turner, urging the public to remain calm, said the unidentified youth, who arrived in the country on a flight from the United States, was in quarantine.
"He is receiving treatment and his condition is stable and does not require hospitalization," she said.
Brazil and Argentina had on Thursday each reported their first cases of the flu -- a new multi-strain believed to be a mix of bird flu and human flu which came together in pigs -- as they head into their winter flu season.
Life in Mexico though was slowly returning to normal after a week-long shutdown with the reopening of schools and tourist sites, Mexico City eateries, theaters and cinemas. Primary schools were due back on Monday.
But authorities remain wary and Canadian airline Air Transat on Friday announced it was extending a suspension of its flights from Canada to Mexico until June 19.
In Hong Kong, still haunted by memories of the 2003 SARS epidemic that killed 300 people there, more than 280 guests and staff were finally allowed to leave a hotel after spending a week in quarantine.
The Mexican guest who tested positive for swine flu and had stayed at the hotel was also released from hospital Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's health ministry said it was testing a man and a boy who returned from the United States Friday for that country's first possible swine flu infection.
A first Japanese person was confirmed to have the disease, but not in the country. The victim was a six-year-old boy in Chicago, who had already recovered, the foreign ministry said in Tokyo.
Officials from east and southeast Asian countries meeting in Bangkok meanwhile agreed to increase their stockpiles of anti-flu drugs.
"We cannot afford to let our guards down. A pandemic remains a formidable challenge to our region," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Swine flu and preparation for possible pandemics will top the agenda when health officials meet from May 18 during the World Health Organization's annual meeting in Geneva.
(c) 2009 AFP
-
US confirms first swine flu death (Update + Latest snapshot of swine flu crisis)
May 05, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Health authorities rush to tackle killer flu in US, Mexico
Apr 24, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
US no longer advising schools close for swine flu
May 05, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Asia on alert after flu threat spreads
Apr 26, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Latest snapshot of swine flu crisis
May 01, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Study finds that anti-diabetic medication can prevent the long-term effects of maternal obesity
In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication ...
22 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
1
FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice
Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 09, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (53) |
21
|
Teen school drop-outs three times as likely to be on benefits in later life
Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Feb 06, 2012 |
not rated yet |
11
Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly
(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...
Amateur football players not always keen on returning to play after ACL injuries
Despite the known success rates of reconstructive Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery, the number of high school and collegiate football players returning to play may not be as high as anticipated, say researchers presenting ...
22 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...
Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation
Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.
Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic
He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.
Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...
GPS court ruling leaves US phone tracking unclear
A US Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect leaves unresolved the bigger issue of police tracking using mobile phones, legal experts say.
Europeans protest controversial Internet pact
Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.
May 09, 2009
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
There are over 4000 deaths every year in Canada of the normal flu, with a number of underlying medical conditions, as there are in most countries on the planet. The WHO maintains that over 2B people will get infected overall...which is a pretty safe bet considering that I don't know one person who has never gotten the flu (...a cold) in their lives...and that is what this is, just another cold.
Aren't we being just a tad alarmist here?