Key developments on swine flu outbreaks, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and government officials:

• Deaths: 19 confirmed in Mexico and one confirmed in U.S., a 21-month-old boy from Mexico who died in Texas.

• Confirmed sickened worldwide, 809: 473 in Mexico; 197 in U.S.; 85 in Canada; 15 in Spain; 15 in Britain; six in Germany; four in New Zealand; two in Israel, France and South Korea; one each in Costa Rica, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong, Denmark and the Netherlands.

• U.S. confirmed cases: New York 50; Texas 28; California 24; Arizona 17; South Carolina 13; Delaware 10; Massachusetts eight; New Jersey seven; Maine six; Wisconsin three; Ohio three; Indiana three; Illinois three; Kansas two; Colorado two; Virginia two; Michigan two; Missouri two; Connecticut two; Florida two; New Hampshire one; Utah one; Rhode Island one; Iowa one; Kentucky one; Minnesota one; Nebraska one; Nevada one.

• President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon spoke for 20 minutes Saturday by phone “to share information about each country’s efforts to limit the spread” of the flu strain, the White House says.

• The World Health Organization says it has sent 2.4 million treatments of anti-flu drug Tamiflu to 72 developing countries, taking the drugs from a stockpile donated by Roche Holding AG.

• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about a third of the confirmed U.S. cases of swine flu are people who had been to Mexico and likely picked up the infection there.

• Mexico has taken extraordinary measures against the epidemic, ordering all nonessential government and private businesses to shut down for five days.

• The U.S. government says schools with confirmed cases should close for at least 14 days because children can be contagious for seven to 10 days from when they get sick. More than 430 U.S. schools had closed, affecting about 245,000 children in 18 states.

• Chicago Public Schools officials say students who come to school with a cough and fever starting Monday will be sent home and required to stay there for at least seven days.

• All 176 weekend soccer games in Mexico – from the first division to the lowly third – were shuttered to fans. The games went on behind closed doors.

• The U.N. and World Trade Organization say there’s no justification for any anti-pork trade measures as a result of the swine flu epidemic since there is no evidence the virus is spread by food.

• Pigs on a Canadian farm have been infected with the new swine flu virus – apparently by a farm worker back from Mexico – and are under quarantine, officials say. It is the first known case of pigs having the virus.



On the Net:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

AP-ES-05-02-09 2201EDT


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