news/notes20090427a

[Biography of the Day] from [Britannica]

Coretta Scott King
Born this day in 1927 was Coretta Scott King—civil rights activist, wife of civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and, after her husband's assassination, the founder of a centre for nonviolent social change.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]

1937: Bombing of Guernica
During the Spanish Civil War, the Condor Legion of the German air force, supporting the Nationalists, bombed the Basque city of Guernica on this day in 1937, an event memorialized in Pablo Picasso's painting Guernica.


[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Monday, April 27, 2009
Hereditary politicians a fact of life
（世襲議員とその実態）
Some in LDP call for curbs on blue bloods

By KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writer

What does Prime Minister Taro Aso have in common with predecessors Yasuo Fukuda, Shinzo Abe, Junichiro Koizumi and Yoshiro Mori, and others who came before them?

They are all political blue bloods whose fathers, grandfathers or other close relatives were political notables, some prime ministers. This trend is especially conspicuous in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Such aristocracy is all too common in Nagata-cho, the nation's political hub.

Koizumi, a third-generation lawmaker and one of the most popular prime ministers in recent years, has no plans to run in the next election and has already effectively passed his baton onto his son, Shinjiro, who will be expected to "inherit" his Kanagawa Prefecture electoral district.

The abrupt resignations of Abe and Fukuda after each only served a year in office triggered the public to label such political gentry as spoiled and gutless.

With a general election expected to be called by fall, junior lawmakers are now looking to upset the hereditary pattern of candidates who are related to current, retiring or past politicians from automatically assuming a spot on the ballot.

Ichita Yamamoto, an Upper House LDP member, suggested candidates should not be allowed to run in the same electoral district as a parent or other close kin, or at the least, only run twice in the same district.

"Regulating the candidacy of politicians' (relatives) does not mean that if someone is born into a political family, that person can't become a politician. That would go against the (freedom of career choice under the) Constitution," Yamamoto recently wrote in his blog, but added that some limits are needed so a politician's next of kin doesn't automatically inherit a family electoral district.

According to Nikkei Shimbun research after the 2005 general election, 112 LDP Lower House members, or 37.8 percent of the chamber, have or had direct blood kin in politics. Out of the 17 ministers in Aso's Cabinet, 11 fall in that category.

The debate heated up after Yoshihide Suga, LDP deputy chief on election campaigns, suggested the party, to ease public criticism, include on its platform for the next general election some kind of limits on candidates with hereditary connections to politicians.

Suga, who is expected to be part of the team that drafts the LDP's poll platform, has said the party needs to demonstrate a determination to pursue unpleasant internal reforms.

Many LDP veterans, however, do not welcome Suga's proposal. They argue that curbing the candidacies of political blue bloods would violate the freedom of career choice guaranteed under the Constitution.

Because many veteran lawmakers effectively inherited their constituencies — that is to say the political support and vote-soliciting machines of their next of kin — they fear being restricted on where they could run could prevent them from being elected.

Aso has also been cool to the notion of restricting the eligibility of an election candidate.

Critics say politicians who inherit an electoral district from a relative have a great advantage over their opponents.

"Those candidates who inherit electoral districts from family members are already well-known in the districts and have the necessary infrastructure for the campaign, including support groups and political funds," Yasuhiro Tase, a political science professor at Waseda University, said as a guest speaker at an LDP political reform team meeting Thursday.

The political reform team of the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force, said Thursday it wants to submit a bill during the current Diet session to limit hereditary candidates.

The DPJ wants to ban politicians and candidates from inheriting the electoral districts of relatives, defining heredity as first- to third-degree kinship. The party has not specified when such a ban would be imposed.

"If we can't do it (in the current Diet session), we will proudly include this in the (election platform)," DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama told reporters Friday, adding that if the party beats the LDP in the next election and takes control of the government, "we will do it immediately."

The DPJ has 20 hereditary Lower House members, accounting 17.7 percent of the Lower House members, according to Nikkei Shimbun's research. They include DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa, himself a former LDP member whose father once was as well.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama, whose grandfather is the late Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama and whose older brother, Yukio, is a key DPJ figure, criticized the DPJ plan, calling it "mediocre."

Hatoyama told reporters it is unfair to allow already-elected hereditary politicians to stay in office but close the gate on future candidates.

Nonetheless, the DPJ's move is pressuring LDP members to address the heredity issue.

LDP Lower House member Masahiko Shibayama suggested there is a reluctance among party executives to raise the issue of a ban, because that would provide the opposition camp with an advantage.

But he meanwhile said the issue should be thoroughly discussed because it could provide an opportunity to prove many hereditary politicians are, in fact, potent.

"Prime Ministers (Abe and Fukuda) did not quit because they were weak. It was just the magic of media surveys" that pressured them to quit.


[NATIONAL NEWS]

Monday, April 27, 2009
Panasonic, Sharp issue Mexico travel bans amid flu fears
（豚インフルエンザ拡大：パナソニック・シャープがメキシコ渡航禁止）

(Kyodo News) Amid the feared spread of an apparent deadly strain of swine flu, Panasonic Corp. and Sharp Corp. instructed their employees Sunday to forgo business trips to Mexico for the time being.

Sharp will also order its employees in Mexico to wear masks and refrain from visiting crowded areas to lessen the chances of infection.

Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Taro Aso ordered the Cabinet's crisis-management officer to come up with measures to block swine flu from entering Japan, officials said.

"We must stop the entry and spread (of swine flu) in Japan at the border," Aso told reporters on a Japan Coast Guard vessel he had boarded for an inspection parade.

The crisis-management officer, Tetsuro Ito, was also ordered to closely cooperate with other countries and provide information to the public, following reports of swine flu infections in humans in Mexico, the United States, Europe and Oceania, the officials said.

The government will convene a meeting of all Cabinet ministers Monday morning to look into the issue.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry received inquiries about the safety of travel to Mexico from 314 people Saturday after it set up a 24-hour telephone consultation service on the disease.

The health ministry will also strengthen its surveillance on direct flights from Mexico by asking all passengers, regardless of whether they show flu symptoms, to provide contact information.

Local public health centers will monitor their conditions for about 10 days to see if there is any sign of swine flu infection.

Quarantine officers continued to use thermographic imaging to check the temperatures of passengers coming from the United States and Mexico to detect signs of flu.

To prepare for confirmation of a new type of influenza by the World Health Organization and raising its alert level from the current phase 3 to 4, the ministry will confirm the amount of flu drug Tamiflu in distribution and secure accommodations near Narita airport to be used for isolating infected people from the general public.

Reflecting public concern about swine flu, JTB Corp. and Hankyu Travel International Co. will cancel their package tours to Mexico.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shigeru Ishiba meanwhile said on a television program Sunday that eating pork poses no danger of being infected.

Pork is sanitized at the shipment stage regardless of whether it is produced domestically or imported, he said.

news/notes20090427b

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Monday, April 27, 2009
DPJ-backed candidate wins Nagoya mayoral election

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Takashi Kawamura, backed by the Democratic Party of Japan, won Sunday's Nagoya mayoral election.
（日本民主党支援候補者：名古屋市長選で勝利）

The win by Kawamura, a 60-year-old former House of Representatives member, is a relief for the DPJ and its leader, Ichiro Ozawa, who has been hit by a fundraising scandal, ahead of a general election that must be called by the fall.

Voter turnout registered 50.54 percent, up sharply from 27.50 in the previous mayoral election.

Four independent candidates ran in the election to pick the mayor of the nation's fourth-largest metropolis.

The other three candidates were Masahiko Hosokawa, 54, a former head of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Chubu Bureau supported by the local chapters of the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc; Yoshiro Ota, 65, a local businessman backed by the Japanese Communist Party; and former office worker Katsuaki Kuroda, 36.

news/notes20090427c

[Today's News] from [The Guardian]

Swine flu death toll exceeds 100 as pandemic fears grow
• Spain confirms first European case
• World Health Organisation urges global vigilance

Chris McGreal in Washington, Jo Tuckman in Mexico City and Rachel Williams
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 April 2009 11.32 BST
Article history

Governments around the world are today on high alert for a possible swine flu pandemic as the death toll from the virus in Mexico rose to more than 100 and the first European case was confirmed in Spain.

Possible cases were reported as far afield as Israel, New Zealand and Scotland, after a declaration at the weekend by the World Health Organisation of an international public health emergency was followed by a call for worldwide surveillance of the spread of the virus.

Spain's health ministry today said a young man who had recently been in Mexico had been confirmed as having swine flu, and 17 other people were under investigation.

The health minister, Trinidad Jimenez, said the man was responding well to treatment and was not in serious condition.

The European commission had already called for an emergency meeting of Europe's health ministers "as soon as possible".

The illness has rapidly claimed 103 lives, confined hundreds of people to hospital, and brought Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, to a near standstill.

Financial turmoil

Fears of a potential pandemic have spooked financial markets worldwide, with airline and tourism stocks plunging today, the dollar dropping to its lowest level against the yuan, and the Mexican peso losing about 3% in electronic trading last night. Oil prices also fell. In London, the FTSE 100 index lost more than 60 points in early trading, falling about 1.5% to 4095.06.

But shares soared in drug companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, and medical glovemakers. Shares of Top Glove, the world's largest listed rubber latex glovemaker, jumped more than 8% to 5.95 ringgit on the Malaysian stock exchange.

The Czech government, which currently holds the EU presidency, will be asked to organise the gathering of European health ministers.

"The timing is up to the Czech presidency, but we are asking for this meeting to happen as soon as possible," a spokeswoman for the EU health commissioner Androula Vassiliou said.

Mexico

José Angel Cordova, the Mexican health secretary, said suspected swine flu cases in his country had risen to 1,614, including 103 deaths, 22 of which have been confirmed to be linked to the new virus. Tests are being carried out on the others. A further 1,614 cases of pneumonia are under investigation for links to the virus.

In Mexico City, the centre of the outbreak, schools, many public buildings and most restaurants remain closed.

The government is warning citizens not to shake hands or to stand close to each other. Many people stayed at home, or only ventured out wearing masks. Some stored water and food. Others left the city altogether.

Across Mexico, more than 1,300 people were tested for suspected swine flu infection and 400 were taken to hospital for checks. Health officials believe that tens of thousands, and possibly more, have been infected but have since recovered.

"[We are] monitoring, minute by minute, the evolution of this problem across the whole country," said the Mexican president, Felipe Calderón. The World Bank yesterday approved $205m (£141bn) in loans to the country to fight the outbreak.

United States

Although confirmed infections outside Mexico remain few, the head of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Richard Besser, said he expected the flu to spread in the US. "I would expect that over time we are going to see more severe disease in this country," he said. "This will continue to spread, but we are taking aggressive actions to minimise the spread."

Another CDC official, Anne Schuchat, went further and said the virus had spread widely and could not be contained.

The US last night declared its own national health emergency, however White House officials urged people not to panic and pointed out that no case outside Mexico had proved fatal.

The US has found 20 confirmed cases of swine flu: eight students in New York and other sufferers in California, Kansas and Texas.

The US homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, ordered the immediate release of 12m doses of antiviral treatments, such as Tamiflu, collected over five years in response to fears about the spread of avian flu.

The US has begun work on a vaccine, but that is unlikely to be available for months and CDC officials say schools may be closed and large gatherings banned in the worst affected areas.

In New York health officials confirmed that eight pupils at a high school in Queens had been infected. The mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said all the cases were mild and there was no evidence that the disease had spread. "So far there does not seem to be any outbreak," he said. "We don't know if the spread will be sustained. What's heartening is the people who tested positive have only mild illnesses."

The US said it would begin testing suspect arrivals from infected areas. China and Russia took quarantine measures at airports to prevent entry by anyone infected.

Some governments issued travel warnings as suspected infections were reported in Spain, Israel and Canada. In New Zealand 10 pupils at an Auckland school who had visited Mexico were treated for symptoms similar to swine flu. Four suspected cases have been found in France.

British action

In the UK the Health Protection Agency chief executive, Justin McCracken, told BBC News it was better to assume the UK would be affected by some cases. "I think probably we should expect cases given the way this has spread across America. It is sensible that we plan in the assumption that there will be cases," he said. "We are already mobilising things in the UK in case the virus comes over here. I definitely think we have enough of the drugs."

He added: "I don't think at this stage there is any need to declare an emergency."

In Scotland the health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said two people in Lanarkshire had been admitted to hospital on their return from Mexico; however, their flu-like symptoms were mild and the couple's condition was causing little concern, she said. Test results due today should reveal whether they have contracted swine flu.

Another man, Chris Clarke, from Stannic, Northamptonshire, fell ill on a British Airways flight from Mexico City to Heathrow and was told to stay indoors, but tests came back negative.

Britons arriving back at Gatwick airport from Cancún said a doctor on board had questioned them about possible flu symptoms before they left the aircraft today.

World Health Organisation

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director general for health security, said it had convened an emergency committee. "We have asked all countries to increase their surveillance," he said.

But Fukuda said the committee had held off raising its pandemic crisis alert system from phase three to four, which would ratchet up the response, until more information about the disease had been gathered.

He said that past experience with avian flu had laid the ground for officials to deal with this crisis. "I believe that the world is much, much better prepared than we have ever been for dealing with this kind of situation."

Of particular concern to health officials is that those most at risk of death are healthy adults whose immune systems are strong and overreact to the virus.

The WHO is likely to raise its pandemic alert level within days if more cases are confirmed. It will go to phase four if the virus shows sustained ability to pass from human to human, and to phase five if it is confirmed in two countries in the same region. "Declaration of phase five is a strong signal a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalise the organisation, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short," the WHO said. Phase six is the declaration of a global pandemic.

news/notes20090427d

[Today's Paper] from [Los Angeles Times]

Swine flu prompts U.S. emergency
The declaration is a precaution, say health officials, who call on the public to be calm and prepared.

By Jim Tankersley and Thomas H. Maugh II
April 27, 2009

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington -- Federal officials declared a public health emergency Sunday as eight cases of swine flu were identified in New York and one was announced in Ohio, bringing the U.S. total of confirmed cases to 20.

In a briefing at the White House, the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Richard Besser, warned Americans to prepare for a widespread outbreak, yet urged the public to remain calm.

Also Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the government would release a quarter of its 50-million-unit strategic reserve of antiviral medications, which combat the disease in infected patients, to states where outbreaks had occurred.

Canadian officials, meanwhile, said four cases had been confirmed in Nova Scotia and two in British Columbia, marking the first time that this particular strain had appeared north of the U.S. border. All six Canadian cases were mild, like those in the United States.

Several other countries have reported influenza-like illnesses that they suspect may be swine flu in travelers returning home from Mexico, but as of Sunday evening, none of them had been confirmed.

Nonetheless, many nations moved quickly to limit the disease's spread, in many cases appearing to be near panic. Some, such as Poland and Venezuela, warned against traveling to the United States or Mexico. Others, such as Russia and Brazil, began screening some incoming international air travelers for signs of high fever.

China, Russia and Taiwan said they would quarantine returning passengers with flu symptoms.

In Mexico, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said almost two dozen more deaths had occurred from influenza overnight, bringing the death total to 103. At least two of the new cases were confirmed as swine flu, for a total of 22 confirmed swine flu deaths. It is not clear how many of the others were caused by the virus.

Of the more than 1,600 suspected flu cases in that country, the Mexican government has said most are probably linked to other strains of the flu or respiratory diseases, not the new strain of swine flu.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said swine flu was "serious enough to be a great concern to this White House and to this government." He added that President Obama was receiving frequent updates on the situation.

"We are taking the proper precautions to address anything that happens," Gibbs said. "It's not a time to panic."

Napolitano said the emergency declaration was a routine move to ensure that the government was prepared "in an environment where we really don't know, ultimately, what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be."

It seemed certain, however, that the number of swine flu cases -- mild or otherwise -- would rise. "As we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum of disease," Besser said. "We're going to see more severe disease in this country."

Because of the situation in Mexico, "I do feel that we will have deaths here," Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a separate news conference. She's the interim deputy director for science and public health programs.

Besser said the CDC had isolated the swine flu virus and prepared a "seed stock" for the manufacture of a vaccine but would not distribute it to pharmaceutical companies until the situation became more severe. Manufacture of a new vaccine will require months.

Public health officials cast the various moves as aggressive but precautionary, and they counseled calm.

The eight confirmed cases in New York involved students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens. City officials had said Saturday that the virus involved was probably swine flu, and that was confirmed overnight by researchers at the CDC. Some of those students had taken a spring break in Mexico.

Flu-like symptoms have been reported in some of the parents, but causes have not been confirmed.

Officials also tested children at a New York day-care center where illness had been reported, but those tests came back negative.

The new case in Ohio is a 9-year-old boy in Lorain County. He has a mild case of the disease and is recovering at home.

Previously announced cases included two in Texas, two in Kansas and seven in California's Imperial and San Diego counties. All the cases were mild, and the victims have recovered.

The Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection said Sunday that four cases had been confirmed in Windsor, Hants County, in eastern Canada. The four victims were students who had recently traveled to Mexico. None of them have been hospitalized.

Two teenage boys in British Columbia in western Canada were also confirmed to have swine flu. Both had mild cases, which were identified as swine flu only because their doctors heeded government calls to perform tests on flu victims who had traveled out of the country.

"This is moving fast," Besser said, "but I want you to understand that we view this more as a marathon."

The symptoms of swine flu are nearly identical to those of other influenza, including high fever, aches, coughing and congestion. It is spreading by human to human contact.

No cases of infection from pigs have been confirmed. And although Russia and some other countries have banned imports of pork from Mexico, there is absolutely no evidence that it can be transmitted by eating meat, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.

Several airlines said they would waive charges for changing tickets for passengers scheduled to travel to or through Mexico.

Health experts have noted that about 36,000 people die in the U.S. during a normal flu season, with deaths worldwide totaling 500,000 to 1 million annually. Officials suspect that many of the deaths in Mexico were, in fact, caused by seasonal influenza, which is believed to remain a greater threat than swine flu.

The principal difference with the new virus is that -- as with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic -- it seems to be affecting primarily the young and healthy, rather than the children and elderly most severely afflicted by seasonal flu.

Besser and other officials at the news conference emphasized steps that the public could take to limit the spread of the disease: Wash hands frequently; stay home and don't board airplanes if you feel sick; and keep sick children out of school.

Meanwhile, California and other affected states have requested CDC assistance in tracking the infections and have recommended increased testing of people with flu symptoms who have been traveling or who have severe cases.

California health authorities have also ordered enhanced veterinary activities to look for outbreaks in pigs.

Gibbs said it was too early to speculate about economic effects of an outbreak. And he dismissed reporters who asked whether the federal response was hampered by the fact that the Senate had not confirmed Obama's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

"It's all hands on deck, and we're doing fine," Gibbs said. "I would say that we hope we have a new secretary shortly."

news/notes20090427e

[Today's Paper] from [The New York Times]

U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency Over Swine Flu

D G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: April 26, 2009

Responding to what some health officials feared could be the leading edge of a global pandemic emerging from Mexico, American health officials declared a public health emergency on Sunday as 20 cases of swine flu were confirmed in this country, including eight in New York City.

Other nations imposed travel bans or made plans to quarantine air travelers as confirmed cases also appeared in Mexico and Canada and suspect cases emerged elsewhere.

Top global flu experts struggled to predict how dangerous the new A (H1N1) swine flu strain would be as it became clear that they had too little information about Mexico’s outbreak — in particular how many cases had occurred in what is thought to be a month before the outbreak was detected, and whether the virus was mutating to be more lethal, or less.

“We’re in a period in which the picture is evolving,” said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, deputy director general of the World Health Organization. “We need to know the extent to which it causes mild and serious infections.”

Without that knowledge — which is unlikely to emerge soon because only two laboratories, in Atlanta and Winnipeg, Canada, can confirm a case — his agency’s panel of experts was unwilling to raise the global pandemic alert level, even though it officially saw the outbreak as a public health emergency and opened its emergency response center.

As a news conference in Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called the emergency declaration “standard operating procedure,” and said she would rather call it a “declaration of emergency preparedness.”

“It’s like declaring one for a hurricane,” she said. “It means we can release funds and take other measures. The hurricane may not actually hit.”

American investigators said they expected more cases here, but noted that virtually all so far had been mild and urged Americans not to panic.

The speed and the scope of the world’s response showed the value of preparations made because of the avian flu and SARS scares, public health experts said.

The emergency declaration in the United States lets the government free more money for antiviral drugs and give some previously unapproved tests and drugs to children. One-quarter of the national stockpile of 50 million courses of antiflu drugs will be released.

Border patrols and airport security officers are to begin asking travelers if they have had the flu or a fever; those who appear ill will be stopped, taken aside and given masks while they arrange for medical care.

“This is moving fast and we expect to see more cases,” Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the news conference with Ms. Napolitano. “But we view this as a marathon.”

He advised Americans to wash their hands frequently, to cover coughs and sneezes and to stay home if they felt ill; but he stopped short of advice now given in Mexico to wear masks and not kiss or touch anyone. He praised decisions to close individual schools in New York and Texas but did not call for more widespread closings.

Besides the eight New York cases, officials said they had confirmed seven in California, two in Kansas, two in Texas and one in Ohio. The virus looked identical to the one in Mexico believed to have killed 103 people — including 22 people whose deaths were confirmed to be from swine flu — and sickened about 1,600. As of Sunday night, there were no swine flu deaths in the United States, and one hospitalization.

Other governments tried to contain the infection amid reports of potential new cases including in New Zealand and Spain.

Dr. Fukuda of the W.H.O. said his agency would decide Tuesday whether to raise the pandemic alert level to 4. Such a move would prompt more travel bans, and the agency has been reluctant historically to take actions that hurt member nations.

Canada confirmed six cases, at opposite ends of the country: four in Nova Scotia and two in British Columbia. Canadian health officials said the victims had only mild symptoms and had either recently traveled to Mexico or been in contact with someone who had.

Other governments issued advisories urging citizens not to visit Mexico. China, Japan, Hong Kong and others set up quarantines for anyone possibly infected. Russia and other countries banned pork imports from Mexico, though people cannot get the flu from eating pork.

In the United States, the C.D.C. confirmed that eight students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, had been infected with the new swine flu. At a news conference on Sunday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that all those cases had been mild and that city hospitals had not seen a surge in severe lung infections.

On the streets of New York, people seemed relatively unconcerned, in sharp contrast to Mexico City, where soldiers handed out masks.

Hong Kong, shaped by lasting scars as an epicenter of the SARS outbreak, announced very tough measures. Officials there urged travelers to avoid Mexico and ordered the immediate detention of anyone arriving with a fever higher than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit after traveling through any city with a confirmed case, which would include New York.

Everyone stopped will be sent to a hospital for a flu test and held until it is negative. Since Hong Kong has Asia’s busiest airport hub, the policy could severely disrupt international travel.

The central question is how many mild cases Mexico has had, Dr. Martin S. Cetron, director of global migration and quarantine for the Centers for Disease Control, said in an interview.

“We may just be looking at the tip of the iceberg, which would give you a skewed initial estimate of the case fatality rate,” he said, meaning that there might have been tens of thousands of mild infections around the 1,300 cases of serious disease and 80 or more deaths. If that is true, as the flu spreads, it would not be surprising if most cases were mild.

Even in 1918, according to the C.D.C., the virus infected at least 500 million of the world’s 1.5 billion people to kill 50 million. Many would have been saved if antiflu drugs, antibiotics and mechanical ventilators had existed.

Another hypothesis, Dr. Cetron said, is that some other factor in Mexico increased lethality, like co-infection with another microbe or an unwittingly dangerous treatment.

Flu experts would also like to know whether current flu shots give any protection because it will be months before a new vaccine can be made.

There is an H1N1 human strain in this year’s shot, and all H1N1 flus are descendants of the 1918 pandemic strain. But flus pick up many mutations, and there will be no proof of protection until the C.D.C. can test stored blood serum containing flu shot antibodies against the new virus. Those tests are under way, said an expert who sent the C.D.C. his blood samples.

news/notes20090427f

[Today's Newspaper] fom [The Washington Post]

U.S. Steps Up Alert as More Swine Flu Is Found
Precaution Taken Despite Mildness Of Cases Detected Domestically

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 27, 2009

The United States declared a "public health emergency" yesterday as countries from New Zealand to Scotland investigated suspected cases of illness that they feared might be a strain of swine flu that has been identified in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

As of yesterday, however, no confirmed cases of the newly emerged flu strain had been found outside those three countries. Many of the people under observation around the world reported recent travel to Mexico.

With the U.S. announcement, civilian and military stockpiles of antiviral drugs were being readied for rapid distribution in the event that transmission of swine flu virus accelerates. The declaration also called for greater vigilance at border crossings and in airports for travelers who are coughing or appear ill.

Those steps fell far short of those that could be invoked in a confirmed pandemic, which could include restricting travel, actively screening travelers for fever or illness, quarantining the sick, closing schools and banning public gatherings.

In Mexico, where the infection is suspected of causing as many as 103 deaths and more than 1,600 illnesses, Masses were canceled and a high-profile soccer game was played before an empty stadium as officials urged the public to take precautions.

In Geneva, the World Health Organization urged increased surveillance for influenza worldwide.

The U.N. agency's public health emergency committee planned to meet again tomorrow to decide whether the outbreak warrants elevation of the pandemic threat level, which in turn could trigger international travel restrictions and other measures.

"The committee unanimously agreed that we are in a situation that really warrants the utmost attention," said Keiji Fukuda, WHO's head of health security. "So on the basis of that . . . we have requested countries to help clarify this situation and to provide as much information as possible."

Suspected cases were being reported in Brazil, Spain, New Zealand, France, Israel and Scotland, and some nations issued travel warnings for Mexico and the United States, wire services reported.

As of last night, there had been 20 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States, 22 in Mexico and six in Canada. The U.S. cases are in California, Texas, Kansas, New York and Ohio. Mexico reported suspected cases in 19 of its 32 states. In Canada, four cases were reported in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia and two on the Pacific Coast in British Columbia. The American and Canadian cases appeared to generally be milder than the Mexican cases, and none had been fatal.

The A/H1N1 swine flu confirmed in the Mexican, U.S. and Canadian cases is a previously unknown combination of pig, human and avian flu viruses. Pigs, which are easily infected with all three types of flu, can function as "mixing vessels" in which flu viruses exchange genetic material and emerge in new forms.

At a White House briefing today, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the emergency declaration was in large part a procedural step.

"That sounds more severe than really it is," she said. "This is standard operating procedure and allows us to free up federal, state and local agencies and their resources." She noted that the government had made the same declaration for recent flooding in North Dakota and Minnesota and for the inauguration of President Obama.

Among the steps being taken: readying drug supplies sufficient to treat 3 million people for flu from the Department of Health and Human Services' "strategic stockpile," which can treat up to 50 million. The Defense Department was readying supplies sufficient for another 7 million people for use by military personnel.

The declaration also allows use of certain medications and diagnostic tests in children and releases money to purchase more drugs if necessary.

The World Bank yesterday said it would give Mexico an immediate loan of $25 million for medicine and equipment, along with longer-term loans of $180 million.

Major airlines, including American, United and Continental, began revising their policies so that travelers flying to Mexican cities could change their plans without fees or penalties. About 5.9 million U.S. citizens flew to Mexico in 2008.

The 20 confirmed U.S. cases of A/H1N1 swine flu yesterday were an increase from the 11 reported Saturday.

Overnight, lab tests confirmed eight cases among students at St. Francis Preparatory School in the New York City borough of Queens, where more than 100 students last week came down with flu symptoms. The school canceled classes for today. Ohio reported a case in a 9-year-old boy from Lorain County, near Cleveland, who was recuperating at home.

Fewer details are available about the outbreak in Mexico. Health officials there have said they are investigating more than 1,600 cases of suspicious, severe flulike infections, with 103 people reportedly dead. Just 22 cases of swine flu have been confirmed there, however.

Why the same virus appears to be acting so differently in Mexico and the United States, where there have been no deaths and all reported cases have been relatively mild, is one of the unanswered questions about the outbreak. The other is whether the virus is still spreading in Mexico.

Napolitano said that people crossing from Mexico into the United States "from a location of human infection of swine flu" will be asked whether they are ill. Those who are will be isolated and given masks. Airlines will also be told to be on the lookout for people who look sick and are about to board planes.

"Right now we don't think the facts warrant a more active testing or screening of passengers coming in from Mexico," she said.

Richard E. Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said that as physicians aggressively look for flu and test patients, more cases of the new swine flu strain will almost certainly be found, and some are likely to be severe. He also predicted that swine flu will reappear in the fall, when the traditional flu season begins.

"In terms of detection . . . we're going to find cases in many different parts" of the country, he said.

The officials said people should be thinking about what they might do if the virus spreads, schools are closed and travel is restricted. In the meantime, they should wash their hands, keep their fingers out of their mouths, and stay home if they are sick.

"Clearly we all have individual responsibility for dealing with this situation," said deputy national security adviser John O. Brennan.

Scientists are preparing a "seed strain" of the new virus that could be used to make a vaccine. Drug companies are in the early stages of making next season's flu shot, a mixture of three flu strains currently circulating the globe.

If companies stopped that work to make a swine flu vaccine, the first shots would not be available for at least two months. Another possibility being pondered is whether to add a fourth, swine flu component to the current recipe.

Epidemiologists from Mexico, Canada, the United States and WHO are investigating cases in Mexico. Experts say that until more is known about what is happening there, it will be hard to evaluate the pandemic potential of the new strain.

Only a few throat swabs from Mexico that have been tested in the United States and Canada have shown swine flu, which suggests that a sizeable number of Mexican illnesses may have another cause.

"How different is this from seasonal influenza? Does this virus have a different potential to cause severe illness? That is what is so critical to find out about Mexico," a high-placed HHS scientist said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.

"If you didn't know about Mexico, what is happening here would just be a few strange cases of flu happening late in the season," he said.

news/notes20090427g

[Today's Papers] from [Slate Magazine]

Attack of the Swine Flu

By Daniel Politi
Posted Monday, April 27, 2009, at 6:37 AM ET

The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal 's world-wide newsbox lead with, and everyone else fronts, the growing fears that the world may be entering a global pandemic as U.S. officials declare a public-health emergency in light of swine flu being detected in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Eight cases were identified in New York and one in Ohio, bringing the total of confirmed cases in the United States to 20. Several countries have said they've identified people who had recently traveled to affected areas and are suffering from influenzalike symptoms but there are no confirmed cases anywhere else in the world. Still, some have issued travel bans and are instituting plans to quarantine travelers who may have the disease, which is incredibly difficult to tell apart from a regular flu.

The New York Times leads with a look at the nationwide shortage of doctors, a problem that the Obama administration is trying to fix as it works on proposals to increase medical coverage for millions of people. Of particular concern is the shortage of primary-care providers. Some are suggesting that Medicare payments to general practitioners should be increased, but specialists say their payments shouldn't be cut to achieve this. USA Today leads with data that show the nation's largest electric utilities increased spending on lobbyists by 30 percent in the last six months of 2008 as Congress began to debate climate change seriously.

U.S. public health officials struggled to emphasize that even though it may sound serious, a "nationwide public health emergency" is no reason to panic. "That sounds more severe than really it is," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "This is standard operating procedure and allows us to free up federal, state and local agencies and their resources." One-quarter of the country's 50-million unit strategic reserve of antiflu drugs will be released to states that have seen outbreaks. In Canada, six cases of swine flu have been reported in people with some link to recent travel to Mexico. The cases identified in the United States and Canada have been milder than in Mexico, where as many as 103 people have died, although only 22 of those have been confirmed as swine flu deaths. Only one of the U.S. patients has required hospitalization, and none had been treated with antiviral drugs.

Several countries have instituted measures to prevent the disease from spreading, "in many cases appearing to be near panic," notes the LAT. Some countries are warning against traveling to the United States and Mexico, while others have said they'll quarantine travelers who appear to be sick. Russia and other countries have even banned pork imports from Mexico, even though experts insist people can't get the flu from eating pork.

Panic over the swine flu has been greatest in Mexico City, where religious services were cancelled, many restaurants and movie theaters were closed, and soccer games were played without spectators as many city residents decided to stay indoors over the weekend. The city of 20 million people "looked like a ghost town," declares the WSJ. Those who dared to venture outside did so wearing face masks. As the death toll continues to rise, it's becoming clear that younger adults may be the most susceptible to the disease, reports the WP in a separate front-page piece. Why that may be remains "one of several mysteries about the virus," declares the paper. In a piece inside, the LAT notes that experts have no idea what's going to happen with this new strain of swine flu. "We don't know what this virus will do," one expert said. "It could burn itself out in the next four to six weeks and we never see it again. It could burn itself out over a more extended period of time."

So what exactly is swine flu and how can it be identified? Most of the papers attempt to answer this question, but it's none too easy. After all, the symptoms look just like the regular flu, and that's why experts recommend that people only seek medical attention if they're suffering extreme symptoms, such as trouble breathing. The swine flu that has been identified, known as A/H1N1, "is a previously unknown combination of pig, human and avian flu viruses," notes the Post, explaining that pigs can sometimes act as "mixing vessels" for the viruses.

The NYT off-leads a long profile of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that details how he formed "unusually close relationships with executives of Wall Street's giant financial institutions" during his five years as head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Despite this close relationship, he failed to spot troubles at the banking institutions he was regulating until it was too late and has since pushed for actions that often benefit the industry. "I don't think that Tim Geithner was motivated by anything other than concern to get the financial system working again," the often-quoted, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said. "But I think that mindsets can be shaped by people you associate with, and you come to think that what's good for Wall Street is good for America." In order to manage the securities that the Fed now holds, Geithner gave three no-bid contracts to BlackRock, a "firm with deep ties to the New York Fed," notes the paper.

John Thain, the former head of Merrill Lynch, tells the WSJ that Bank of America is lying. Thain has largely stayed quiet after he was fired amid public outcry that resulted from huge bonuses being given to Merrill employees, despite the firm's giant losses. At the time, Bank of America said Thain was solely responsible for the bonuses, but in an interview with the WSJ, he says that just isn't true. Thain says he discussed the bonuses with Kenneth Lewis, Bank of America's CEO, and they both agreed the money could be paid out before Merrill was acquired. "The suggestion Bank of America was not heavily involved in this process, and that I alone made these decisions, is simply not true," Thain tells the paper.

The NYT reports that IBM will announce today it will finish developing a computer program to compete in a game of Jeopardy! If the program manages to beat its human opponents, "the field of artificial intelligence will have made a leap forward," notes the NYT. Although a computer has already beat a world champion in Chess, experts say that beating humans in a game of Jeopardy! is much more complicated since it has so many nuances. In order to make it a bit fairer, the computer would not be connected to the Internet to retrieve information. Still, experts say the biggest challenge isn't putting enough information into the computer but, rather, getting it to figure out what it should be searching for when presented with a question.

In the NYT 's op-ed page, Mark Taylor, the chairman of Columbia University's religion department, calls graduate education "the Detroit of higher learning." The vast majority of graduate programs prepare students for jobs that don't exist and arm them with skills for which there is a decreasing demand, all while charging more for the privilege every year. "The dirty secret of higher education is that without underpaid graduate students to help in laboratories and with teaching, universities couldn't conduct research or even instruct their growing undergraduate populations," declares Taylor, who says it's one of the main reasons why students are still encouraged to enroll in doctoral programs. In order to compete in the 21st century, "colleges and universities, like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured."

The WSJ takes a look at how pirate enthusiasts are mad at the pirates off the Somalia coast for ruining all their fun. The people who don the traditional pirate clothing and punctuate their sentences with "aaaar, matey," have found it's suddenly less fun to espouse the liberating pirate lifestyle when Somali teenagers armed with AK-47s are threatening world commerce. "There ought to be a different word for pirates in their current incarnation," the co-founder of the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. When he suggested different names on his MySpace page, "I got a huge response," he said, "from people saying 'amen.' Or 'aaaar-men.' "

news/notes20090427h

[HEALTH] from [cnnNEWS]

Swine flu sparks global concern

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- The European Union's health commissioner Monday called on people to avoid traveling to both Mexico and the United States as health officials around the world worked to contain what appears to be a spreading swine flu outbreak.

Mexico seems to be the epicenter of the outbreak, where as many as 103 deaths are thought to have been caused by swine flu, the country's health minister said. An additional 1,614 reported cases have been reported in the country.

So far, however, only 18 of the deaths in Mexico have been confirmed by laboratory tests to be from swine flu and reported to the World Health Organization as such.

The United States stepped up preparations for a possible epidemic of the virus after 20 cases were confirmed there, and Canada announced its first cases of the virus Sunday -- six mild cases.

Swine influenza, or flu, is a contagious respiratory disease that affects pigs. It is caused by a type-A influenza virus. Outbreaks in pigs occur year-round. The current strain is a new variation of an H1N1 virus, which is a mix of human and animal versions.

When the flu spreads person-to-person, instead of from animals to humans, it can continue to mutate, making it harder to treat or fight off because people have no natural immunity.

The symptoms are similar to the common flu. They include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

The virus spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes around another person. People can become infected by touching something with the flu virus on it and then touching their mouth, nose or eyes.

The WHO has called the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern."

Researchers are trying to determine how easily it can jump from person to person. And Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general, said it was too early to predict whether there will be a mild or serious pandemic.

The cases confirmed in the U.S. and Mexico were enough of a concern for Andorra Vassiliou, the European Union's health commissioner, to recommend against travel to North America.

People "should avoid traveling to Mexico or the USA unless it is very urgent for them," Vassiliou said.

Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Vassiliou's warning was "not warranted."

In Mexico City, authorities closed all schools and universities until further notice because of the virus, and military troops distributed 4 million filter masks in the city of 20 million residents.

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said he is wearing a mask "to promote to people to use" it.

"The potential damage for the city is very high," Ebrard said.

The streets of Mexico City were eerily quiet Sunday afternoon -- a time when families are usually out strolling.

Officials have talked about shutting down the bus and subway system, and incoming international passengers at the country's airports are asked on a form whether they have various symptoms that might indicate that they're carrying the virus.

Mexican Finance Minister Augustin Carstens said Sunday that the World Bank was lending his country $205 million to deal with the outbreak.

In the United States, the largest number of cases was in New York City, where the CDC confirmed cases in eight students at preparatory school.

"Given the reports out of Mexico, I would expect that over time we're going to see more severe disease in this country," said Dr. Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director.

In Washington, the government declared a public health emergency -- a step Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said, "sounds more severe that really it is."

"This is standard operating procedure and allows us to free up federal state and local agencies and their resources for prevention and mitigation," she said.

Meanwhile, Israel, New Zealand and Spain were investigating unconfirmed cases of swine flu.

Concerns about the virus prompted Canada to issue a travel health notice, and South Korea to say it will test airline passengers arriving from the United States.

Japan is expected to convene a Cabinet meeting Monday to come up with measures to block the entry of the virus into the country.

In New Zealand, officials said 22 students and three teachers, who returned from a three-week-long language trip to Mexico, might have been infected. The group remains quarantined at home, and Health Minister Tony Ryall said 10 students tested positive for influenza A -- the general category of strains that includes the H1N1 swine flu.

In Spain, six people -- all recently returned from Mexico -- were being isolated in hospitals, the country's Health Ministry said. Lab tests confirmed that one of the cases had tested positive. And in Israel, doctors are running tests on a man who recently returned from Mexico with light flu symptoms.iReport.com: Do you think we should be worried about swine flu?

In 1968, a "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people worldwide. And in 1918, a "Spanish" flu pandemic killed as many as 100 million people.

news/notes20090427i

[Health] from [ABC NEWS]

Swine Flu: What You Need to Know
（豚インフルエンザへの対処法）
Good Hygiene Is Important in Combating the Virus

By HUMA KHAN
April 26, 2009

As U.S. officials warn of the spread in swine flu cases across the country, there are a number of steps Americans can take to protect themselves and their children from this unique virus.

The rapidly spreading swine flu is a new virus that includes combination of swine, bird and human strains. It has taken the lives of 81 people in Mexico, and sickened more than a thousand south of the border.

In the United States, 20 cases have been confirmed thus far -- seven in California, two in Kansas, eight in New York City, one in Ohio and two in Texas.

Simple preventive measures, such as washing hands frequently and avoiding people who are coughing or sneezing, can go a long way toward keeping Americans safe from the virus, which health officials expect is likely to afflict more people.

"There is a role for everyone to play when an outbreak is going on to try and reduce the impact," said Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "At an individual level, it's important people understand how they can prevent respiratory infection. Frequent handwashing [is an] effective way to reduce transmission of diseases."

The World Health Organization declared the unusual virus a "public health emergency of international concern," but fell short of calling it a pandemic.

What is a Pandemic?
（世界的流行病とは）

A flu virus can reach pandemic status if three conditions are met, according to the World Health Organization.

First, it must be an infection that has newly emerged. Secondly, it has to be able to cause serious illness in humans. And thirdly, it must be able to spread easily from person to person. Infections in this category can often spread beyond their continents of origin -- and potentially around the world.

When a flu virus mutates in such a way that it forms a novel version, it means people typically have little to no protection, because their immune systems have no experience fighting that form of the virus. Flu viruses can spread quickly and potentially cause more severe illness when the population lacks immunity.

Scientists around the globe are working hard to determine the threat level of the current swine virus. Right now, the virus is said to have "pandemic potential" because it is a new virus that can spread from person-to-person.

But if it turns out the virus does not spread easily among people, the threat level will go down. Similarly, if it turns out the virus can spread easily among people, the threat becomes more serious and the virus is more likely to trigger a pandemic.

"The distinction about a pandemic is that you need a distinct virus that human population hasn't seen before. Once it starts to spread, it moves rapidly from country to country and from continent to continent and we don't have that yet," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

He added that it is still too early to use the "P" word just yet.

"I'm still observing this as a variant of seasonal influenza. I don't know if we've seen that kind of [global] spread yet so I'm a little bit cautious. However it's in everyone's mind," he said.

But all pandemics are not equally deadly. Some kill millions more people than normal flu outbreaks, while others are roughly on par with seasonal flu in terms of deaths.

It is not possible to predict a pandemic in advance, so health officials keep a close watch on viruses that have "pandemic potential" -- new viruses that have shown at least some ability to transmit to humans.

The current H5N1 bird flu circulating in Asia is an example of a virus that has pandemic potential, but has not yet caused a pandemic.

Pandemics can vary quite a bit in severity. The 1918 pandemic killed many more Americans than an ordinary flu, while the 1968 version killed about 34,000 people -- about the same number killed each year by seasonal flu, according to CDC statistics.

The world generally experiences at least two flu pandemics each century.

What Does a Public Health Emergency Entail?
（公衆衛生上の緊急事態宣言必要？）

Declaring a public health emergency allows states to free up their resources for prevention of the disease in question.

That declaration gives the head of the Department of Health and Human Services authority to take rapid measures -- including authorizing contacts and mobilizing the national disaster system -- to respond to the disease, including allowing the use of unapproved drugs.

Scientists have not yet determined the reason why there are reported swine flu deaths in Mexico while cases in the United States have thus far been mild.

The WHO noted that the U.S. cases have all been confirmed by laboratory analysis, while those in Mexico have not all been confirmed as yet. This means that health officials do not know how many people who died in Mexico perished because of the new swine flu virus.

However, the CDC is concerned that because the virus is genetically similar in the United States and Mexico, the United States will see more severe illness as new cases emerge, including some deaths.

What You Need to Know About Swine Flu
（豚インフルエンザで知っておくべきこと）

What many people do not realize is that the flu is generally a much more serious illness than most people appreciate. Even the "typical" flu season results in 36,000 American deaths each year, according to CDC statistics.

The swine flu is a type of influenza virus usually found in pigs. The most common version is H1N1, and the current virus causing concern is a new variation of that virus. Swine flu does not typically pass to humans directly, but such transmission can occur. The current swine flu virus concerns health experts because it has shown the ability to pass from human to human.

When a person gets the swine flu virus, it takes 48 hours before the infected person actually begins to feel ill.

"It takes time for the virus to get down and start to create an illness. That interval between exposure and onset of illness is called the incubation period. The virus hasn't manigested itself," Schaffner said.

Once a person becomes ill, they can stay that way for anywhere from 48 hours to seven days. So far, in the United States, the cases of swine flu have been mild.

There is no vaccination for the swine flu system. U.S. and WHO officials said they are beginning work on a vaccine, but that could take months to develop.

Two prescription anti-viral drugs -- Tamiflu and Relenza -- have proved effective in combating the swine flu virus in victims in the United States. The Obama administration has released 12.5 million courses of the country's stockpile of 50 million courses of Tamiflu.

Health officials and doctors don't recommend people go to the hospital if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms. Rather, they should contact their doctor.

Doctors recommend getting rest and drinking plenty of fluids, and using Tylenol and Advil, which have proven effective for flu symptoms.

CONTINUED ON news/notes20090427j

news/notes20090427j

[Health] from [ABC NEWS]

Swine Flu: What You Need to Know
（豚インフルエンザへの対処法）
Good Hygiene Is Important in Combating the Virus

By HUMA KHAN
April 26, 2009

CONTINUED FROM news/notes20090427i

Doctors recommend "self-quarantine" for those inflicted with the influenza, so that it does not spread to others. If children are sick, they should not be sent to school. For adults, they should stay away from their workplaces and maintain as much distance as possible from others. Travel on buses or airplanes is not recommended.

Doctors say it is only natural for flus to spread in places like schools, where there is a lot of interaction.

It is hard to distinguish the symptoms of a swine flu from any other flu.

Schaffner said the one distinction is that the swine flu is not a common cold.

"Common cold has its symtoms from the neck up -- sore throat, stuffy nose and feeling crummy. However influenza tends to make you feel much more ill. You can have a sore throat but then you also get cough and muscle aches and pains," he said.

The Swine Flu Symptoms
（豚インフルエンザの症状）

Hayden Henshaw, an 18year-old from Cibolo, Texas, who was diagnosed with the swine flu last week, said he felt regular flu symptoms.

"You just get really run down, my skin and my muscles were achy. I had a cough and slightly feverish." he told ABC News.

His father, Patrick and 11-year-old sister, Hannah, also got the flu from him.

"It's just like any other flu but the vaccine doesn't help with this strain," his mother, Robin, told ABC News.

Doctors recommend looking out for symptoms such as a fever of more than 100 degrees, body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

In the absence of symptoms, officials say people don't have to get tested. If they are experiecing the symptoms, they you should take precaution and stay away from others.

The WHO is developing a profile of the "typical case" of swine flu, but thus far, the symptoms appear to be essentially the same as those for the usual winter flu. The only way to definitively diagnose swine flu is to have laboratory testing done to determine the exact subtype of the virus.

Swine Flu Is Called a Global Threat
（豚インフルエンザは地球規模の脅威）

The WHO has a six-phase approach for dealing with large outbreaks of viruses. The six threat levels help the organization determine the course of action it needs to take and the kind of guidelines and recommendations it needs to provide to countries.

Phase 1 means no viruses circulating among animals are reported to have caused infections in humans. The Phase 2 threat is activated when the virus has spread from animals to humans and has "potential pandemic threat."

The threat level is escalated to Phase 3 -- such as after the swine flu spread -- when the virus is reported in clusters, but has not resulted in enough human-to-human transmission to have caused a large outbreak at the community level.

Phase 4 means the virus has resulted in "community-level" outbreaks, and is at a strong risk of becoming a pandemic.

Phases 5 and 6 mean there is widespread human infection, and the uptick to Phase 5 means that a global pandemic is on its way. Phase 6 is post-peak, meaning the virus has dropped from its most sever but hasn't completely disappeared.

In the post-pandemic period, influenza disease activity will have returned to levels normally seen for seasonal influenza.

Currently, the WHO has a threat level of 3 but is considering raising it to 4. WHO officials said they are not yet convinced that this is a pandemic and there are still a lot of questions about the strength and lethality of the swine flu virus.

7 Ways to Protect Yourself
（自衛防護策の７カ条）

"[Prevention is] no different than any other pandemic flu, and those are kind of simple things -- wash your hands a lot, don't shake hands or hug or kiss people if you're sick, don't go to work, self-qurantine yourself," said Peter Katona, an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center.

1. Wash hands frequently: This will lessen the chance of carrying or transmitting any viruses that normally get stuck on the hands in day-to-day activities. Try to avoid rubbing eyes or touching nose with dirty hands. Wash hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.

2. Try to avoid people who are coughing and sneezing: The CDC advises people to cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze and throw the tissue in the trash after using it. Try to teach your kids to do the same. Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.

3. If experiencing flu-like symptoms, don't go out -- stay at home. Call a healthcare provider, particularly if a person has been to Mexico, southern California and southern Texas. The CDC recommends that people who get sick stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

4. Taking a trip to Mexico? Rethink your plans. Schaffner said that unless you have a compelling reason to go, you might want to reconsider. Many airlines, including Continental, US Airways and American Airlines, are waiving cancellation fees on tickets to Mexico.

5. Stay informed and plan ahead: Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said it's important to stay informed about what's going on in one's community, and whether the authorities -- such as the state or county health departments -- have issued any recommendations. It's a good idea to plan for what to do if children's school is closed.

6. Keep sick kids out of school, and stay home from work if you are sick. Aside from providing needed rest, such absences protect others from catching whatever you or your kid has. Keep at least a few feet's distance if you have the flu or are interacting with someone who has the flu. The communicable distance for most flu viruses is about three feet, so keep clear of this radius in order to avoid spread. If dealing with a flu case at home, make sure the flu sufferer (and even those who interact with this person) wear facial masks to lower the chances of spread.

7. Avoid surfaces and objects that may be handled by many people. For kids, this may include doctor's office toys, surfaces that a lot of other kids are touching. Keep all surfaces and objects around the house clean. This becomes especially relevant if there is someone in that house who is sick or has the flu already. Try to teach kids not to touch their faces. This is like mass transit for germs: straight from the hands to the eyes, nose and mouth.

The CDC advises those who feel symptoms to contact their doctor right away. And finally, one myth that can be dispelled: There are no signs that people can get the swine flu from eating pork.

news/notes20090427k

[Top News] from [REUTRS]

Mexican swine flu spreads to U.S., Europe

Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:56am EDT
By Catherine Bremer

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Governments around the world rushed to reduce the impact of a possible flu pandemic on Monday, as a virus that has killed 103 people in Mexico and spread to the United States and Canada also reached Europe.

While the swine flu virus has so far killed no one outside Mexico, the fact that it has proved able to spread quickly between humans has raised fears that the world may be facing the flu pandemic that scientists say is long overdue.

Shares and oil prices fell in Asia and Europe, as investors feared a further shock to an already fragile global economy, if trade flows are curbed and manufacturing is hit.

The MSCI world equity index fell 0.5 percent, although U.S. stocks bounced back from early losses and the Dow Jones industrial average turned higher.

The U.S. government has declared a public health emergency and an official said it will also urge Americans to avoid all "non-essential" travel to Mexico, which relies heavily on tourism.

Spain became the first country in Europe to confirm a case of swine flu when a man who returned from a trip to Mexico last week was found to have the virus.

But his condition, like that of 20 cases identified in the United States and six in Canada, was not serious. A New Zealand teacher and around a dozen students who recently returned from Mexico were also being treated as likely mild swine flu cases.

President Barack Obama said U.S. officials were closely monitoring cases of swine flu, but he also tried to ease fears.

"This is obviously a cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert. But it is not a cause for alarm," Obama told a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences.

Cases of the flu, which has components of classic avian, human and swine flu viruses but has not actually been seen in pigs, were also suspected in Britain, France, Italy and Israel.

Many countries have stepped up surveillance at airports and ports, using thermal cameras and sensors to identify people with fever, and the World Health Organization has opened its 24-hour "war room" command center.

The European Union's health chief urged citizens to avoid non-essential travel to areas affected by swine flu, and the European Commission called an urgent meeting of health ministers.

HEALTH EMERGENCY

Although most cases outside Mexico were relatively mild, a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she feared there might be U.S. fatalities.

The WHO has declared the flu a "public health emergency of international concern" that could become a pandemic, or global outbreak of a serious disease.

Its emergency committee was due to decide on Monday whether to raise its pandemic alert level, currently at 3 on a scale of 1 to 6.

"If we go to phase 4 because of the swine flu virus, it basically means that we believe that a potential pandemic virus has potentially shown it can transmit from person to person and cause large outbreaks," WHO Acting Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda said on Sunday.

In the financial markets, travel and leisure stocks such as Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways and British Airways nevertheless fell sharply, whereas makers of drugs and vaccines, such as Roche, were higher.

"The threat of the pandemic will add further weakness to global trade," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment Management in London. "We saw with SARS tangible percentage points knocked off the index, and that was in a buoyant time. Put that in a weaker time and it is likely to be more unpleasant."

An outbreak of the SARS respiratory virus in 2003 was largely limited to Southeast Asia and cost the region's economy around 0.6 percent of GDP.

The World Bank estimated last year that a global flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion and cut world GDP by 5 percent.

Oil prices fell more than 4 percent to below $50 a barrel on Monday, pressured partly by expectations the world economy could suffer if a pandemic materializes.

Mexico's peso fell more than 3 percent on Monday and its stock market fell more than 4 percent.

MEXICO SLOWS TO A HALT

In Mexico, the center of the swine flu outbreak, life has slowed dramatically in cities as schools have been closed and public events called off to slow the spread of the virus.

Many in Mexico City spent the weekend hunkered at home or wore blue surgical face masks handed out by truckloads of soldiers to venture out onto strangely hushed streets. The city government considered halting public transport.

Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said on Sunday that the flu had killed 103 people in Mexico, and about 400 people had been admitted hospital. But he noted that a majority of infected patients had recovered.

Health authorities across Asia tried to give reassurance, saying they had enough stockpiles of anti-flu drugs to handle an outbreak.

Guan Yi, a virology professor at the University of Hong Kong who helped to fight SARS and bird flu, said a pandemic looked inevitable. "I think the spread of this virus in humans cannot possibly be contained within a short time ... We are counting down to a pandemic."