April 27, 2009 — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization are concerned that the swine flu that hit Mexico could be a new stronger strain of the virus because of its spread and toll in Mexico City, Mexico, according to many sources, including the online edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. There also are fears the swine flu could prompt a flu pandemic that hits across numerous countries.

The U.S. government declared a public health emergency Sunday to respond to the outbreak of the swine flu, which has proved deadly in Mexico and infiltrated the United States, with 40 cases confirmed as of this morning. However, all of those sickened in the United States have recovered or are recovering, a stark contrast to the deaths in Mexico, and a fact that authorities can't yet explain, reports the online editions of the Sun-Times, the Denver Business Journal, and Yahoo! News.

The virus, which sickened students in New York, has also struck people in Kansas, California, Texas, and Ohio. Many of them had recently visited Mexico, the media said.

Countries around the globe are bracing to fight the swine flu. Airports worldwide are setting up quarantine areas while others, including Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, are using thermal cameras to monitor the body temperature of passengers arriving from overseas in the fight against the possible spread of the flu.

In the United States, airports are also taking precautions, including setting up potential quarantine areas, and roughly 12 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said, according to the Sun-Times.

To read the full article, including personal precautions you can take, click here.

To read the full Chicago Sun-Times story, click here. To read the full Denver Business Journal article, click here.

Additional information is available on the CDC Web site and from the Colorado Department of Public Health Web site.

Stay tuned for more information on how to register for the exclusive ISSA Web cast featuring pandemic consultant Beatrix Babcock, Thursday, May 7, at 11:00 a.m. CST!

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