No reported cases of swine flu in SOS Children's Villages Mexico

Today, we received the following report from SOS Children's Village Mexico about the current swine flu epidemic:

"As more and more cases of the A/H1N1 virus, better known as swine flu, are being reported all over the world and mainly in Mexico, SOS Children's Villages Mexico has taken preventive measures, even though there have been no reported cases in our Villages or Programmes so far.

"As a preventive measure, SOS Children's Villages has suspended any kind of social events and assemblies until the situation improves. In Tehuacán, all activities in community homes and centres were cancelled and food rations for the week distributed beforehand among all parents to avoid waste. Until 7 May, which was set as a tentative date for the resumption of full activites, only the administrative staff of the centres will continue work. In Comitán and Chiapas (both Social Centres and SOS Cildren's Villages), authorities from the IMSS (Social Security Mexican Institute, for its acronym in Spanish) on Monday vaccinated staff, families and children against influenza. Since supplies of surgical masks are running out in all of Mexico due to the high demand, SOS Children's Village directors have requested reserves of surgical masks to the correspondent health authorities; support is being sought from international organizations to send surgical masks to distribute in the villages, and if possible, to also donate to other organisations.

"The current global situation regarding the outbreak of A/H1N1 swine influenza is evolving rapidly. Though the numbers of infections and deaths confirmed to be attributable to the virus vary depending on the sources (Reuters, New York Times, WHO), it seems sure that so far, no one has died outside of Mexico. More than 50 infected people have been found in the United States, six in Canada and three across the Atlantic in Spain and Scotland. Possible cases were being tested as far away as Norway and South Korea. In an effort to curb the spread of the virus, Mexican authorities have implemented a series of protective measures, including the planned acquisition of 400000 additional doses of antiviral drugs, the distribution of surgical masks on public transport, and the closing of schools in all states of Mexico. People in a poor state of health were advised not to undertake international trips, while travelers returning from international destinations with suspicious symptoms were told to seek medical attention.

"The swine flu bug is curable if treated quickly with antiviral medicine but no one is naturally immune and the WHO General Director has raised the alert level of pandemic influenza from phase 3 to phase 4. This decision was based primarily on epidemiological data demonstrating human-to-human transmission and the ability of the virus to cause community-level outbreaks. The shift to a higher phase of pandemic alert indicates that the probability of declaring a pandemic has increased, but not that the pandemic is inevitable."