Despite a global warning issued by the World Health Organization, a Health Ministry consultant on pandemics yesterday downplayed the risk of swine flu being contracted in Israel. So far, no cases have been reported in the country, but health authorities are preparing to deal with the disease.
Commenting on the implications of the deaths and detection of many other non-fatal cases over the past few weeks in North and Central America, Dr. Ran Blitzer told Haaretz, "Israel is equipped to handle this disease." He added that the disease is for the most part not life-threatening.
Nonetheless, the World Health Organization yesterday warned countries around the world to be on alert for any unusual flu outbreaks. The new swine flu strain, which has killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico, has pandemic potential, the organization's head, Dr. Margaret Chan, said, and it may be too late to contain the sudden outbreak.
The disease has already reached Texas and California, and with 24 new suspected cases reported in Mexico City alone, schools were closed and all public events suspended in the capital until further notice - including more than 500 concerts and other gatherings in the metropolis of 20 million.
"The virus has mutated," Blitzer said. "It still looks like swine flu, but now it contains genetic sequences of human flu and of bird flu, so it seems like it could constitute an entirely new kind of flu."
The cases in California and south Texas were largely minor in severity, Blitzer said, explaining that out of eight patients, only one required hospitalization. In Mexico, where the virus affected hundreds of people, only 18 people were put into quarantine because of swine flu. He added that over the past five years before the current outbreak, only five people were diagnosed with swine flu, all of who recovered.
This type of swine flu can have similar symptoms as the regular flu - mainly fever, coughing and sore throat, though some of the U.S. victims who recovered also experienced vomiting and diarrhea. But unlike with regular flu, humans don't have natural immunity to a virus that includes animal genes - and new vaccines can take months to prepare for use.
Experts at the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the nature of this outbreak may make containment impossible. Already, more than 1,000 people have been infected in as many as 14 of Mexico's 32 states, according to daily newspaper El Universal. Authorities there urged people to stay home if they feel sick and to avoid shaking hands or kissing people on the cheeks.
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