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| English: A map of the infected countries of the H1N1 flu of 2009 as of 30 April 2009. confirmed death and infections confirmed infections unconfirmed infections This map has been uploaded for use in the Wikinews article Swine flu outbreaks appear globally; WHO raises pandemic alert level to 5 because the map used should reflect the information known at the time the article was published. ---- (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
KOBE, Japan (AFP) - - The number of swine flu cases soared in Japan Monday and a New York teacher died of the virus, increasing the prospects of world health chiefs declaring an official pandemic at their annual meeting.
Japan shuttered more than 2,000 schools and kindergartens after it confirmed that swine flu cases had reached 129 with authorities warning that the real number of infections from (A)H1N1 could already be in the hundreds.
Officials in New York, where six schools had already been closed, were reported to have ordered the closure of five more after the death of a 55-year-old assistant principal at a school in the borough of Queens.
Mitchell Wiener was "overwhelmed by the illness despite treatment with an experimental drug," a spokesman for Flushing Hospital Medical Center where Wiener had been treated since Wednesday told the New York Times.
His death brought the toll in the United States to six. While only a fraction of the 66 deaths in Mexico, the US accounts for more than half of the overall caseload from a virus which has been reported in 40 countries.
According to the latest figures from the United Nations' World Health Organization , around 8,500 people have been infected with (A)H1N1.
The figure is rising rapidly, increasing the likelihood that the organisation will raise its pandemic alert level to a maximum level six. It is already at level five, indicating that a pandemic is imminent.
The top level would indicate sustained community transmission in a second region outside the Americas.
Keiji Fukuda, acting Assistant Director General of the WHO, told AFP the organisation was "looking very carefully at the situation" in Japan.
The rapid rise in infections there has highlighted the difficulties facing authorities as they try to contain the spread of the virus.
Until Friday, Japan thought it had kept the virus at bay, after detecting four people who tested positive when they flew in from North America and immediately quarantining fellow passengers.
The majority of the scores of new cases are concentrated in Kobe and Osaka after two high schools from the areas met for a volleyball tournament, with some players and coaches feeling feverish after the games.
"Considering the situation, it is possible that the infections spread through volleyball games," said Toshizo Ido, the governor of Hyogo prefecture, which includes Kobe city.
"We have to contain this in the region, but it is becoming very difficult."
Residents of Kobe have rushed to hospitals and emergency fever clinics, while pharmacies have quickly run out of face masks.
WHO bosses have proposed shortening the meeting from 10 days to five to minimise the time officials are away from their countries during the crisis.
Any announcement on raising the alert level will be made by WHO Director General Margaret Chan after consultations with a panel of scientific experts.
Chan has voiced fears that a second wave of the virus could strike "with a vengeance" later this year during the usual northern hemisphere flu season and says it would be better to plan for the worst.
The virus had "quickly demonstrated its capacity to spread easily from one person to another, to spread widely within an affected country and to spread rapidly to additional countries," she said on Friday.
"We expect this pattern of international spread to continue," she added.
Hours of debate are expected to be devoted to influenza and pandemic preparations, a regular topic in recent years after H5N1 bird flu took hold in humans.
The WHO is also holding talks with scientists and vaccine makers about triggering large scale pandemic vaccine production and whether to halt seasonal flu production in order to free up production capacity.
Experts have also expressed concern about possible mutation of the A(H1N1) virus that could make it more resistant to antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which have been stockpiled by countries to treat severe flu.
From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.
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