from www.gmanews.tv (swine flu virus)

by rubiah Mon May 04, 2009 2:59 pm

H1N1 outbreak sickens 1,000 worldwide
05/04/2009 | 12:14pm

Key developments on swine flu outbreaks, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and government officials:

�Deaths: 22 confirmed in Mexico and one confirmed in U.S., a toddler from Mexico who died in Texas.

�Confirmed sickened worldwide, 1,000: 568 in Mexico; 245 in U.S.; 101 in Canada; 40 in Spain; 18 in Britain; eight in Germany; four in New Zealand; two in Italy, France, Israel, and South Korea; one each in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong, Denmark and the Netherlands.

�In the U.S., New York has most confirmed cases with 63, Texas is second with 43 and California is third with 26.

�Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about a third of confirmed U.S. cases are people who had been to Mexico and likely picked up the infection there.

�Visitation at all California prisons has been suspended after an ill inmate at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County is being tested for swine flu.

�Hong Kong, where severe acute respiratory syndrome killed 299 in 2003, ordered weeklong quarantine of downtown hotel where a Mexican tourist was confirmed to have the illness, trapping 350 guests and employees inside.

�Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa complained that China had isolated several Mexicans without reason � and urged Mexicans not to travel to China until the situation was resolved.

�Mexican officials will decide Monday whether to allow schools and businesses to reopen on Wednesday.

�World Health Organization said slaughtering pigs unnecessary because virus is being spread through humans, and it says a swine herd in Canada likely was infected by a farmworker who returned from Mexico.

�U.S. Meat Export Federation, which represents pork and beef interests abroad, estimates that U.S. pork exports have dropped about 10 percent since the swine flu scare started. - AP