WHO raises flu alert level

• By ASSOCIATED PRESS
• Published: Apr 27, 2009 - UPDATED: 4:22 p.m.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Ominous developments Monday in the swine flu epidemic - a jump to 149 deaths and more signs that the virus can jump repeatedly from human to human - prompted the World Health Organization to raise its pandemic alert level, and governments around the world were taking tougher measures.

The virus has already spread to at least a half-dozen countries and half of Mexico. Trying to eliminate crowds, the Mexican government canceled school nationwide and considered closing the capital's subway system. Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said 20 deaths have been confirmed to be from swine flu and test results were pending on the others.

"We are the most critical moment of the epidemic. The number of cases will keep rising so we have to reinforce preventive measures," Cordova said at a news conference that was briefly shaken by an earthquake centered in southern Mexico.

WHO said the new phase 4 alert means sustained human-to-human transmission is causing outbreaks in at least one country, signaling a significant increase in the risk of a global epidemic, according to Mexico health department spokesman Carlos Olmos. Phase 4 doesn't mean a pandemic is inevitable, but many experts think it may be impossible to contain a flu virus already spreading in several countries.

Cordova said 1,995 people have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since mid-April, of whom 1,070 have been released. The government does not yet know how many were swine flu.

Cordova also suggested an earlier timeline for documented swine flu cases inside Mexico. The first death confirmed by the government involved a woman who succumbed from swine flu on April 13 in southern Oaxaca state. But Cordova said tests now show that a 4-year-old boy contracted the disease at least two weeks earlier in neighboring Veracruz state, where a community has been protesting pollution from a large pig farm.

The farm is run by Granjas Carroll de Mexico, a joint venture 50 percent owned by Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, Inc. Spokeswoman Keira Ullrich said the company has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine influenza in its swine herd or its employees working at its joint ventures anywhere in Mexico.

But local residents are convinced they were sickened by air and water contamination from pig waste.

There was a widespread outbreak of a particularly powerful respiratory disease in the area early April, and some people reported being sick as early as February. Local health workers intervened in early April, sealing off the town of La Gloria and spraying to kill off flies they said were swarming through their homes.

Cordova said the community was suffering from ordinary influenza - not swine flu. But only one sample was preserved - that of the boy. It was only after U.S. and Canadian epidemiologists discovered the true nature of the virus that Mexico submitted the sample for international testing, and discovered what he suffered from.

The boy has since recovered and Cordova said there have been no new cases detected in the town, but epidemiologists want to take a closer look at pigs in Mexico as a potential source of the outbreak.

Juan Lubroth, an animal health expert at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, said a team of veterinarians was flying to Mexico. They will examine what surveillance systems are in place to detect swine flu, and review historical data on previous viruses identified in the country. Farmers will be interviewed.

Lubroth said there have been no reports of sick or dying swine in Mexico, but warned that fears surrounding the outbreak could have a devastating effect on the pork industry.