Video – U.S. H1N1 Flu Cases At 226, Now In 30 States

NEW YORK [CBS] — U.S health officials say there are now 226 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States.

The tally released Sunday by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention also shows 30 states now have cases of H1N1 (swine) flu. That’s up from the CDC’s count of 160 confirmed cases in 21 states.

The CDC says its own count is outdated almost as soon as it is announced. More cases are being confirmed daily. About one-third so far are people who had been to Mexico and probably picked up the infection there. Many newly infected people are getting the illness in the U.S., and the CDC says it probably still is spreading.

On the Sunday talk shows, health officials were cautiously optimistic that the new flu isn’t as dangerous as first feared. But they urged people to keep taking commonsense precautions to keep the virus from spreading.

“It’s a rapidly evolving situation and it’s still one that is cloaked in uncertainty,” Dr. Besser said. “But each day we’re getting more information … and we’re starting to see encouraging signs.”

“It’s a rapidly evolving situation, and it’s still one that is cloaked in uncertainty,” Dr. Richard Besser, Acting CDC Director, said on CBS’ Face The Nation. “But each day we’re getting more information … and we’re starting to see encouraging signs.”

President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon spoke for 20 minutes Saturday to share information about each country’s efforts to keep the swine flu from spreading further and the importance of close U.S.-Mexican cooperation, the White House said.

In California many school districts around the state have responded to the rise in cases – many of them schoolchildren – by closing classrooms as a precautionary measure.

The California Department of Public Health said officials were also testing samples from 110 probable cases, said spokesman Al Lundeen. That’s up from 17 confirmed and 55 probable cases from Friday.

No deaths have been reported in the state from the virus.

“We’ve expected the numbers would go up all along. Since we’ve been actively pursuing samples, it would make sense that the numbers would increase,” Lundeen said.

Authorities late Saturday confirmed Los Angeles County’s first case: A California State University Long Beach student was found to have the virus.

“Declining Phase” In Outbreak, But More Deaths Suspected

Mexico’s health secretary said the swine flu epidemic in his country “is now in its declining phase,” even as other countries reported new cases.

The death toll in Mexico remains at 19, and the number of confirmed cases has increased slightly, from 473 to 506, including the dead, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said. He said “evolution of the epidemic is now in its declining phase.”

He said data suggest the epidemic peaked sometime between April 23 and April 28, and that drastic measures – closing the nation’s schools, shuttering most of its businesses and banning mass public gatherings – apparently have helped curb the flu’s spread.

Nonetheless, Cordova said 11 people were suspected to have died from the virus in the previous 24 hours. The alarming news came after the epidemic’s toll in Mexico appeared to have been leveling off.

The global caseload was nearing 800 and growing – the vast majority in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Colombia on Sunday reported South America’s first confirmed case of swine flu a day after Costa Rica reported the first in Central America.

The Spanish Health Ministry said the country now has 40 confirmed cases of swine flu – making it the European nation hardest hit by the virus. It said most of the victims have already recovered. All but two had recently visited Mexico.

Britain, Italy and Germany also reported new cases.

But just over a week into the outbreak, the virus largely remains an unpredictable mystery.

The World Health Organization has decided against raising its alert to a full pandemic for now but governments have been moving quickly to ban flights and prepare quarantine plans anyway.

Tourists, Staff Remain Quarantined Inside Hong Kong Hotel

In China, Mexicans were being asked to identify themselves on arriving flights and isolated from other travelers after landing, said Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s ambassador to the country. None of those in isolation has presented symptoms and most had no contact with infected persons or places, he said.

Hong Kong – which was criticized for delaying quarantine measures during the SARS outbreak – sealed the downtown Metropark Hotel, where a sickened Mexican tourist had stayed, trapping 350 guests and employees inside.

About a half dozen police officers wearing masks guarded the hotel Sunday, even though all those at the hotel were reported to be healthy. One guest said he walked on the stairs for exercise and to alleviate boredom.

“It’s highly inconvenient. That’s what’s affecting people, because it took us by surprise,” said 45-year-old Kevin Ireland, who was on a business trip from New Delhi, India.

Scientists warn that the virus could mutate into a deadlier form.

“Influenza is unpredictable,” said Dr. Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who has worked on SARS and H5N1 bird flu outbreaks. “There are so many unanswered questions. This is a brand new virus. There’s so much we don’t know about the human infectious with this virus.”

Right now, one of the biggest hurdles is a lack of information from Mexico. A team of international and Mexican virus sleuths is trying to piece together an epidemiological picture of who’s dying and where transmission began, while also uncovering just how it’s attacking people with severe illness. But details are emerging slowly.

Pablo Kuri, a Mexican epidemiologist, said three of the dead were children: a 9-year-old girl, a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. Four were older than 60. The other nine were between 21 and 39 – unusual ages for people to die from flu because they tend to have stronger immune systems.

Although most of the dead were from the Mexico City area, they came from different neighborhoods in the metropolis of 20 million, and there were no similarities linking their medical backgrounds.

One theory for the deaths is that perhaps they sought treatment too late – falling sick an average of seven days before seeing a doctor. Many of the sick around the world were people who had visited Mexico, including 13 of Britain’s 16 cases.

The World Health Organization earlier announced that a pandemic was imminent, but it has decided against declaring a full pandemic alert.

From Swine To Human … Back To Swine?

In the Canadian province of Alberta, health and agriculture officials said about 220 pigs on a farm were quarantined after being infected by a worker who had recently returned from Mexico.

They stressed that swine viruses are common in pigs, and there was no need for consumers to stop eating pork as long as it’s handled properly and cooked thoroughly.

The pigs are all recovering in the first documented case of the H1N1 human flu being passed to another species.

(AP Photo/Nasser Nouri)
In Egypt, police fired shots in the air and tear gas at pig owners who stoned them in an attempt to prevent government workers from slaughtering their animals as a precaution against swine flu.

A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said 12 people were injured in the Manshiyet Nasr slum.

In Baghdad, Iraqi officials killed three wild boars at Baghdad’s zoo because of swine flu fears, even though health experts say the virus is not transmitted by pigs. Iraq has no documented cases of swine flu.