MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Swine flu outbreak in Mexico kills 68, infects hundreds; schools closed

At least 68 people have died and hundreds of others have been infected in a viral outbreak in Mexico suspected to have been caused by a strain of swine flu. The World Health Organization thinks the virus may be behind the deaths in Mexico since mid-March.

As a precaution to avoid further contamination, schools and universities in Mexico City and the state of Mexico were closed Friday, said the national health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos. He said the schools may remain closed for a while.

According to the World Health Organization 57 people have died in Mexico City, another three people elsewhere in Mexico, the agency said. Mexican authorities added another eight.

Sixteen of the deaths were from “a new type of influenza virus,” Cordova said. Another 45 cases are “suspicious,” he said. Authorities are investigating the cases of 943 people suffering from a viral infection, the health minister said. The World Health Organization had said 800 people had fallen ill.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon canceled a trip Friday to northern Mexico so he could remain in Mexico City to monitor the situation, the state-run Notimex news agency reported. Calderon met with his Cabinet on Thursday night to discuss the outbreak.

In the United States, eight cases of a previously undetected strain of swine flu have been confirmed in humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. All of the patients have recovered, officials said. None of the patients had direct contact with pigs, the CDC said.

A WHO spokesman said 12 out of 18 samples taken from the Mexican victims showed they died from a virus with the same genetic structure as the one found in the US.

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said “unusual end-of-season influenza activity” was noticed in Mexico starting from the end of March.

In the US, experts say the eight people who fell ill across California and Texas were suffering from a new form of swine flu that combined pig, bird and human viruses.

The CDC said none of the eight victims had been in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. CDC spokeswoman Anne Schuchat said that officials did not yet know how widely the virus had spread.

But she pointed out that all eight victims had recovered. “So far this is not looking like very, very severe influenza,” she said.

The eight patients range from age 9 to 54, CDC's Schuchat said. “The good news is that seven of these patients have recovered,” she said.

The first two cases were picked up through an influenza monitoring program, with stations in San Diego and El Paso, Texas. The program monitors strains and tries to detect new ones before they spread, according to CDC. Other cases emerged through routine and expanded surveillance.

The human influenza vaccine's ability to protect against the new swine flu strain is unknown, and studies are ongoing, Schuchat said. There is no danger of contracting the virus from eating pork products, she said.

The new virus has genes from North American swine and avian influenza; human influenza; and swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe, said Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC's Influenza Division.

The new strain of swine flu has resisted some antiviral drugs.

The CDC is working with health officials in California and Texas and expects to find more cases, Schuchat said.

There's no need for alarm, but people at risk -- those who live in or have visited areas where patients live or have had contact with pigs -- should get tested if they notice symptoms, said Dr. William Short at the division of infectious diseases at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.