Flu sparks global fear

World health authorities battled yesterday to contain a deadly swine flu blamed for dozens of deaths in Mexico as new suspected cases triggered fears the disease may be spreading around the globe.

Authorities in Mexico, where the new multi-strain swine flu was first detected, confirmed 20 people have died and warned the death toll could be as high as 81.

Suspected cases were being tested in Europe, the Middle East and Asia yesterday as US health officials confirmed at least 10 people have been infected across the border from Mexico in the United States.

The World Bank is giving Mexico an immediate loan of $25 million to help with medicine and medical equipment. In addition, the bank would provide a further $180 million to help Mexico set up operations to deal with the outbreak.

The World Health Organisation said it was recommending that all nations "intensify surveillance for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia."

Thousands of people have begun wearing blue face masks to ward off infection in Mexico where many people are being treated for flu symptoms.

And Catholic church officials took the unusual step of cancelling Sunday services in this 90-per cent Catholic country.

More than 500 cultural and athletic events have been scuttled by government order yesterday in the capital, as authorities banned large gatherings for at least 10 days, emptying theatres, movies, restaurants and sports stadia.

"This virus has clearly a pandemic potential," WHO director general, Margaret Chan, warned. The Geneva-based UN agency branded the outbreak "a public health emergency of international concern," following a meeting of its emergency committee.

Russia, fearing the spread of swine flu, yesterday banned meat imports from Mexico, several US states and nine Latin American nations, a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

And Asian health officials went on alert as the flu strain appeared to have spread to New Zealand. Governments across the region, which has in recent years been at the forefront of the SARS and bird flu epidemics, stepped up checks at airports and urged the public to be on guard for symptoms of the new flu.

Ten New Zealand students who recently travelled to Mexico are "likely" to have contracted swine fever, Health Minister Tony Ryall said yesterday - the first suspected cases in the region of more than three billion people.

The European Commission said it was on alert yesterday for swine flu.

France yesterday reported four suspected cases of swine flu among travelers returning from Mexico while three Spanish nationals have been placed in isolation after showing flu symptoms following a recent visit.

In the first suspected swine flu case in the Middle East, a 26-year-old Israeli man has been hospitalised in Netanya on returning from Mexico, hospital officials said.

In the United States two cases have been confirmed in Kansas, while eight young students from New York have also been diagnosed with the flu strain.

In London, a hospital announced that a British Airways steward admitted with "flu-like symptoms" after arriving on a flight from Mexico City had tested negative.

"The most worrying fact is that it appears to transmit from human to human," said WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham.

These features, along with the fact that young healthy adults have fallen victim to the flu in Mexico, and not the very old or very young, have given rise to fears of an epidemic or even a pandemic.

According to the WHO, pigs have already been factors in the appearance of two previously unknown diseases that gave rise to pandemics in the last century.

If a pig is simultaneously infected with a human and an avian influenza virus, it can serve as a "mixing vessel" for the two viruses that could combine to create a new, more virulent strain.