Geneva (dpa) - The World Health Organization confirmed Monday 985
officially reported cases of the influenza A (H1N1) infection in 20
countries.
Mexico, the UN health agency said, has reported 590 laboratory
confirmed cases, including 25 deaths. The United States had 226
confirmed cases, including one death, while Canada reported 85
infections.
Elsewhere in Latin America, El Salvador reported two cases and
Colombia and Costa Rica one each. In Europe, 11 nations reported
confirmed cases, including 40 in Spain, 15 in Britain and eight in
Germany. In Asia, Hong Kong and South Korea each confirmed one case,
while Israel said it had three, the only cases in the Middle East.
The higher number of cases from Mexico, the WHO said, reflected
ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. UN officials have
said last week there was a backlog of thousands of specimens from
Mexico waiting to be tested.
The UN has been trying to stress the need for governments and
health professionals to stay alert and not get complacent, in spite
of evidence showing the virus may not be as bad as originally feared.
Conversely, the WHO has been warning it is too early to say for
certain what the nature of the virus will be over time and officials
have not ruled out the disease may change for the worse.
Currently, the WHO has kept its influenza pandemic alert at phase
5, which means there is evidence of sustained human to human
transmission in at least two countries.
It has maintained its recommendation that eating well-cooked pork
is safe and has no advisories on restricting travel, except for those
already ill.
People showing flu-like symptoms should see a medical
professional.
Copyright 2009 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH