Friday reported their first confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases as the World Health
Organization (WHO) warned of further spread of the virus.
Ecuadorian health authorities reported on Friday the first case of
influenza A/H1N1 in a 12-year-old boy.
The boy had traveled to Miami, the United States, to have a surgery, said
Ecuadorian Vice Health Minister Ricardo Canizarez.
On the same day, Malaysia confirmed its first A/H1N1 flu case involving a
student who had just returned from the United States.
Mexico, which is responsible for most of the deaths caused by the A/H1N1
strain, Thursday raised the death roll of the virus to 66 from previously
reported 64. Its confirmed cases of the virus also surged to 2,895.
The impacts of the virus are waning in Mexico despite recent increases in
deaths and infections, said Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova.
Cordova said that from 61 of the 66 deaths were patients who developed
symptoms before April 23, when an alert was declared.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Thursday shifted
to a mixed reporting of confirmed and probable human A/H1N1 cases as most
probable cases end up being confirmed.
The number of confirmed and probable cases was 4,714 Friday, as compared
with the 4,298 recorded for Thursday, said the CDC.
The U.S. state of Texas reported its third A/H1N1 flu death in a 33-
year-old man on Friday, after the deadly virus killed a Texas woman and a Mexico
toddler who was visiting relatives in the state.
The latest fatality in Texas brought the country's number of H1N1 deaths to
five.
Meanwhile, 12 students at an elementary school in Houston, Texas, were
diagnosed with A/ H1N1 flu Friday, and local officials suspected it might be the
largest cluster of the new influenza virus in Texas.
Officials decided to close Travis Elementary School after the confirmation.
In Britain, four patients were confirmed on Friday by the Department of
Health with A/H1N1 flu, bringing the country's total number of the infected to
82.
All four cases are children in the London region, and are all linked to
previously confirmed cases, said a statement from the Department of Health.
On Friday, Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, announced
agreements between the British government and vaccine manufacturers to secure
supplies of up to 90 million doses of pre-pandemic H1N1 vaccine before a
pandemic begins.
"The UK's arrangements are continuing to ensure that we are well-placed to
deal with this new infection," said the statement.
Confirmed cases in Canada rose to 496 Friday, with 47 new cases added
during the day, according to the latest figures from the Public Health Agency of
Canada (PHAC).
The spread of the A/H1N1 flu virus is expected to continue and the severity
of the current disease patterns could change in unforeseen ways, WHO Chief
Margaret Chan said Friday.
"This virus has quickly demonstrated its capacity to spread easily from one
person to another, to spread widely within an affected country, and to spread
rapidly to additional countries," Chan said.
"We expect this pattern of international spread to continue," she said at
an intergovernmental meeting of WHO member states.
Chan said she took it as her personal responsibility to keep the world
informed about the flu outbreak and to adjust WHO recommendations as the
situation evolves.
According to the latest WHO figure, the H1N1 virus, which was first
identified in Mexico, so far has infected 7,520 people in 34 countries and
regions. The figure does not include Ecuador, Malaysia and Peru.
Special Report:
World Tackles A/H1N1
Flu
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