Health Officials Fear Swine Flu Pandemic

Mexico City closed schools across the metropolis of 20 million Friday after at least 16 people died and more than 900 others fell ill from what health officials suspect is a new strain of swine flu. World health officials are worried that it could mark the start of a flu pandemic.

Meantime, three more cases of swine flu have been diagnosed in San Diego and Imperial counties, bringing the total to five for the area and health experts say it looks like the virus is spreading from person to person.

"We don't know the cause, but we do know that the virus is in our community,” Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta says two more cases also have been discovered in San Antonio, Texas.

Swine flu is a respiratory illness that normally affects pigs, and only rarely spreads to humans, but in these recent cases the CDC says the patients had no direct contact with pigs.

"We don't know yet how widely it's spreading, and we certainly don't know the extent of the problem," Centers for Disease Control spokesperson Anne Schuchat, M.D. said.

The three confirmed cases in San Diego County include a 10-year-old boy, a 54-year-old man, and his 16-year-old daughter.  

Two more people got sick in Imperial County, as did two teenagers from the same school near San Antonio, Texas.

All seven have recovered and testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the virus.

The CDC is checking people who have been in contact with the seven confirmed cases, who all became ill between late March and mid-April.

Health experts say the last recorded death from swine flu in the U.S. was in 1976 and what is significant to the cases here is not the severity, but the strain.

"This is the very first time that it has been detected," Wooten, M.D., M.P.H said.  And with all the attention, she says it's unlikely this is the last of it.  "We definitely expect to find more because we're asking doctors to test."

Doctors say symptoms of this flu include fever, sore throat, coughing, and nausea.

There is no vaccine, but doctors say some newer medications like Tamiflu have been effective so far.

Get more information about swine flu on the San Diego County's "Swine Flu and You" Web page.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC San Diego

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