Vol. 73/No. 18      May 11, 2009

There have also been reported cases of swine flu in Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Among those countries the first death from the virus was reported today in the United States.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón issued an order April 25 giving his government emergency powers to regulate transportation, inspect any home or building, order quarantines and assign any task to any federal, state, or local cops as well as health professionals. Schools in some states in Mexico are closed until May 6 and many major public events have been canceled.

Mexico's population is some 110 million. There are 10 hospital beds for every 10,000 people, compared to 32 in the United States and 49 in Cuba. Infant mortality in Mexico is 29 per 1,000 live births, compared to 7 in the United States and 5 in Cuba.

Citing swine flu, Japanese officials have ended the policy of allowing Mexican travelers to obtain their visas upon arrival in Japan, reported the New York Times. Health inspectors there will now comb through some 6,000 passengers per day on flights from Mexico, Canada, and the United States before allowing them to get off the plane.

The government of Indonesia announced April 27 it had banned all imports of pork products from North America and would destroy all imports received before the ban, even though medical authorities state the flu cannot be transmitted from pigs or from eating properly cooked pork.

On April 24, Democratic U.S. Congressman Eric Massa of New York called for Washington to close the border with Mexico "immediately and completely until this is resolved." His comments were hailed by the rightist anti-immigrant group the Minuteman Project and posted on its Web site. Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, dismissed Massa's proposal. "You have to look at what the costs of that are," she said. "We literally have thousands of trucks and lots of commerce that cross that border."

The Cuban government has taken preventative steps in the face of the flu outbreak. In response to the avian flu epidemic in recent years, steps had been taken by Havana to assure speedy diagnosis and minimal risk of the disease spreading. Today, these measures are being employed along with temporary restrictions on travel to and from Mexico.  
 
 
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