Swine flu virus kills child in US
A 23-month-old child in Texas is the first person known to have died of swine flu outside Mexico, where it may have killed as many as 159 people.
Officials in Washington gave no other details of the patient - one of 64 cases of infection with the virus.
Germany has detected its first three cases of the H1N1 virus and the UK has now confirmed five cases.
The UN's World Health Organisation has called a meeting of scientific experts to discuss the nature of the outbreak.
CONFIRMED & SUSPECTED CASES
# Mexico: 159 suspected deaths - seven confirmed cases
# US: one death, at least 63 confirmed cases
# Canada: 13 confirmed cases
# UK: 5 confirmed cases
# Germany, New Zealand: 3 confirmed cases each
# Spain, Israel: 2 confirmed cases each
# Countries with suspected cases: Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Australia, and South Korea, and seven EU states
Earlier, it confirmed that the flu was being transmitted between humans and called on countries to check their contingency plans for a possible pandemic.
But the WHO also urged caution, saying measures like travel bans were unlikely to prove effective.
The death in Texas was confirmed by Dr Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Germany's Robert Koch Institute, responsible for disease control and prevention, said a 22-year-old woman was in hospital in Hamburg and that a 37-year-old woman and a man in his late thirties were in separate hospitals in Bavaria.
All three recently returned from Mexico, officials said.
In the UK, Prime Minister Gordon Prime announced three new cases, on top of two previously reported in Scotland: a girl of 12 in the south-west English town of Torbay, and a case each in London and Birmingham.
He told parliament all three were receiving antiviral drugs and were responding well to treatment.
"All of them have travelled recently from Mexico," he added. "All of them have mild symptoms."
Confusion
In Mexico, there is some confusion over exactly how many people died from H1N1, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs reports.
From Matthew Price in Oaxaca, Mexico
The first fatal case of the virus is believed to have been contracted here in Oaxaca. It is a tourist centre and the obvious concern is that when the visitors leave, they may take the virus with them.
At the local cemetery, a group of gravediggers pointed me towards a freshly dug plot. The flowers on top had wilted under the sun but still had some colour. Here was the grave of the first confirmed victim of the virus, Adela Gutierrez, 39.
One of the gravediggers, Sergio Castro Lopez, told me people here are worried. They are waiting for the authorities to tell them what they should do. I tried at the local hospital to get more information but the ministry of health has ordered its staff across the country to remain silent.
This is largely because the government is now subjecting the samples it has from deceased patients to a more laborious verification process.
Meanwhile, the search for the source of the outbreak continues, with the focus on the vicinity of a pig farm in the eastern part of the country.
The Mexican government is urging against jumping to conclusions and is suggesting the possibility remains that the virus originated outside the country, our correspondent adds.
The capital, Mexico City, has banned restaurants and cafes from serving all food except takeaways to try to prevent the spread of the virus.
Schools across the country have closed, public gatherings are restricted and archaeological sites have been placed off-limits.
SYMPTOMS - WHAT TO DO
# Swine flu symptoms are similar to those produced by ordinary seasonal flu - fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue
# If you have flu symptoms and recently visited affected areas of Mexico, you should seek medical advice
# If you suspect you are infected, you should stay at home and take advice by telephone initially, in order to minimise the risk of infection
Mexico City's chamber of trade estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m or £39m) a day.
People have been cancelling beautician appointments, wary of close physical contact, Reuters news agency reports.
"The customers are scared stupid - they don't want to go out," said hairdresser Esther Gonzalez.
Spain is one of the countries outside the Americas most vulnerable to the virus because of the sheer volume of its air passenger traffic with Mexico.
It has two confirmed cases of swine flu and a further 32 people are undergoing tests.
The government says the situation is "under control", that no lives are at risk and that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission within Spain.
Instead, it says all those under observation fell ill after visiting Mexico.
All incoming passengers from that country and the US are being asked to fill in forms with medical information and contact details and airlines have been ordered to carry surgical masks.
With more than 30,000 passengers a month travelling from Mexico to Madrid, swine flu is a logistical challenge, the BBC's Steve Kingstone reports from the Spanish capital.
The authorities are preparing for the long haul, our correspondent says.
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Published: 2009/04/29 11:34:47 GMT
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