Health & Science

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 12:37 UTC

  Peru confirms first swine flu case in South America

  

  Peruvian Health Minister Oscar Ugarte Wednesday confirmed that an Argentine woman was the first case of swine flu in Peru. This makes the first case reported and confirmed in South America.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 12:24 UTC

  Swine flu: Lula da Silva calls for caution and responsibility from the media

  

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva called on Wednesday for “caution” when dealing with the swine flu information and “let us not play terrorism” with the disease. He underlined that Brazil “was prepared” to face such a challenge.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 07:58 UTC

  “US Swine flu severity no worse than seasonal flu” says expert

  

  As of April 29, 91 people in the United States had confirmed cases, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The first US death occurred on April 27, when a two-year-old child succumbed to swine flu after travelling from Mexico to Houston for treatment.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 07:54 UTC

  Cruise lines suspend calls at Mexican ports

  

  At least three cruise lines have suspended stops as of this week at Mexican ports because of concerns over the country's swine-flu outbreak. The cancellation of ship visits followed a recommendation issued this week by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control that advised US citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 07:31 UTC

  Vaccine against H1N1 virus could be ready for September

  

  United States health officials said Wednesday that a vaccine against the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, could be ready for human use by early September. The announcement was made at a joint press conference held by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Food and Drug Administration.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 04:25 UTC

  Mexico’s Swine Flu and the Globalization of Disease

  

  Mexico has long been considered the laboratory of globalization. Now a potentially deadly virus has germinated in that laboratory, finding ideal conditions to move quickly along a path toward global pandemic.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2009 - 04:10 UTC

  Swine flu could hit 40% of UK population says British WHO expert

  

  The deadly swine flu virus could infect up to 40% of the United Kingdom population in the next six months if the outbreak becomes a pandemic, world health officials said. Professor Neil Ferguson, a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) taskforce which decided to raise its alert over the virus to level four, said four in 10 people could be infected if the country is hit by a pandemic.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2009 - 11:49 UTC

  Swine flu two steps short from a full pandemic, warns WHO

  

  The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its alert level over swine flu from three to four, two steps short of declaring a full pandemic. WHO Assistant Director General Dr Keiji Fukuda said it signalled a “significant step towards pandemic influenza”, but added “we are not there yet”.

• Monday, April 27th 2009 - 14:39 UTC

  WHO admits swine flu could become pandemic, but world “better prepared”

  

  The international community is better prepared than ever to deal with the threatened spread of a new swine flu virus, the top United Nations health chief has said. As the UN warned the outbreak might become a pandemic, World Health Organization Director-General Dr Keiji Fukuda said years of preparing for bird flu had boosted world stocks of anti-virals.

• Monday, April 27th 2009 - 14:34 UTC

  UK has enough anti-viral drugs to treat 50% of the population

  

  Health experts in Britain are on high alert to prevent the spread of a new human strain of the swine flu virus. Britain’s NHS also revealed it has a stockpile of £ 500 million of Tamiflu anti-viral drug which has proved effective on patients in Mexico where the outbreak seems to have started.