U.S. officials advised Americans against most travel to Mexico as a swine flu virus that began there spread to the United States and beyond. With 40 cases now reported in the United States, President Barack Obama says there was reason for concern but not yet “a cause for alarm.” Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, says that so far the disease in the United States seems less severe than the outbreak in Mexico, where more than 1,600 cases have been reported and where the suspected death toll has climbed to 149. No deaths have been reported in the United States, and only one hospitalization.
“I wouldn’t be overly reassured by that,” Besser told reporters at CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta. He raised the possibility of more severe cases in the United States. The United States stepped up checks of people entering the country by air, land and sea. And Besser says a new U.S. travel advisory will suggest “nonessential travel to Mexico be avoided.”
The confirmed cases announced today were double the 20 initially reported by the CDC. Besser said this was due to further testing—not further spreading of the virus—in New York at a school in Queens, bringing the New York total to 28. Besser said other cases have been reported in Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. He said that, of the 40 cases, only one person has been hospitalized, and all have recovered.
