Swine flu is running wild in the Southern Hemisphere and is spreading rapidly through Europe, with Britain projected to reach 100,000 daily cases by the end of August. The virus is even showing signs of rebounding in Mexico.
Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization and health ministers from around the world huddled yesterday in Cancun for a two-day summit to design strategies for battling the pandemic. Nations attending include the United States, Canada, China, Britain and Brazil.
"As we see today, with well over 100 countries reporting cases, once a fully fit pandemic virus emerges, its further international spread is unstoppable," Chan said during opening remarks.
Mexican officials wanted the meeting held in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun -- where tourism has plunged -- to highlight the country's success in controlling its epidemic with a five-day national shutdown of schools and businesses in May.
The measures were applauded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and international health officials.
"Our presence here is an expression of confidence," Chan said. "Mexico is a safe, as well as a beautiful and warmly gracious, place to visit."
But Mexico is starting to see an increase in swine-flu cases in isolated areas. In southern Chiapas state and the state of Yucatan -- adjacent to Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located -- cases have more than doubled in a worrying sign that the country may see a resurgence, especially when its winter flu season begins in November.
In the span of a week ending Tuesday, the number of cases in Yucatan state jumped from 683 to 1,362, and in Chiapas from 492 to 1,079, Mexico's Health Department said. During the same week, Quintana Roo reported 102 new cases.
Yucatan and Chiapas officials blamed the spike on outbreaks in schools, which have since closed a few weeks early for summer break. Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said that most of those infected were local residents who had recently traveled to northern Mexico.
Mexico has confirmed a total of 10,687 cases to date, including 119 deaths.
With the Southern Hemisphere in the midst of its winter flu season, Chan said that officials are keeping a close watch on those countries. U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sibelius said that the United States will give 420,000 Tamiflu treatments to the Pan American Health Organization to be distributed in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Chile's epidemic has followed closely behind outbreaks in Mexico and the United States. Cases in the Chile have swelled to 7,342, including 15 deaths.
Britain, which has officially reported 7,447 swine flu cases, is the hardest-hit nation in Europe.
Researchers say they have discovered why outbreaks have been more like a series of local blazes than a wide-ranging wildfire. The new virus has a protein on its surface that is inefficient at binding with receptors in people's respiratory tracts, restricting its ability to spread quickly, according to a report in today's edition of the journal Science.
Chan emphasized that most people recover from the illness without medical treatment and that most who die have underlying medical conditions.
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