Update on Swine Flu

Contrary to wide-spread initial reports that the swine flu included bird, pig and human flu strains, doctors are now saying that the flu is solely made up from 2 strains of pig flu.

And while earlier reports put the number of confirmed cases in Mexico well above 100, the World Health Organization (WHO) is now giving the following update, revising the number of cases in Mexico sharply downwards:

As of 18:00 GMT, 29 April 2009, nine countries have officially reported 148 cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 infection. The United States Government has reported 91 laboratory confirmed human cases, with one death. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection including seven deaths.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (13), Germany (3), Israel (2), New Zealand (3), Spain (4) and the United Kingdom (5).

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders.

That's too good news.

The bad news is that - from what a doctor tells me - it appears that the horse is already out of the barn, the flu really is spreading worldwide, and there is no way to stop its spread.

Obama has said that schools where any children have confirmed infections may need to be closed temporarily. And it should be obvious that WHO will declare it a pandemic within the next day or so.

Here is a current list of swine flu cases by states (in the U.S.), and here is the latest official health guidance.