Wed, 29/04/2009 - 22:43 by Inderjit Singh
Wellington, April 29-- New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key warned Wednesday that the swine flu outbreak might have side-impact on the country's tourism.
He made his comment following the laboratory confirmation Tuesday night of three cases of swine flu and the health ministry revealing that 179 people in New Zealand were in isolation.
Key, who also serves as tourism minister, said India had issued a travel warning and some Japanese tourists had cancelled trips to New Zealand.
"It is important to put it in perspective," he said. "It is highly likely that most countries will have some outbreak of swine flu."
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 22:22 by Inderjit Singh
Columbus -- A U.S. extension specialist says swine producers follow strict biosecurity protocols to prevent swine flu and other diseases in their herds.
Steve Moeller, an Ohio State University swine specialist, says understanding the intensive protocols is important to consumers concerned about swine influenza outbreaks and the impact on pork safety.
"First, it is important to note that the virus has not been isolated in any animals to date," Moeller said. "In addition, swine influenza viruses are not spread by food; therefore, consumers will not be infected with swine influenza from eating pork or pork products.
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 17:46 by Salinder Kumar
Washington, April 29:US health authorities Wednesday reported the first death from swine flu, the first such fatality outside Mexico.
The Atlanta, Georgia-based center for disease control CDC said a 23-month-old baby had died in the southwestern US state of Texas, which borders Mexico.
So far a total of 64 confirmed cases of swine flu has been registered in the US.
-IANS
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 17:33 by Salinder Kumar
London, April 29: Low and middle-income countries are less prepared than developed nations to fight an outbreak of swine flu, health experts say.
"Of particular concern is the ability of low-income and middle-income countries to detect and mitigate the effects of this new virus on their populations," said The Lancet, an authoritative medical journal.
"History has shown that developing countries are disproportionately affected by an influenza pandemic," it said in an editorial published Tuesday.
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 11:33 by Jamie Anderson
Los Angeles, April 29: The Swine flu has literally inundated the United States of America. The worst part is that flu continues to spread from one state to the other and experts opine that the worst is yet to come. The number of flu cases has swelled, prompting officials to announce a public health emergency.
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 11:01 by Salinder Kumar
New York, April 29: Major US stock indices fell for a second straight day Tuesday as concerns over the economic impact of a growing swine-flu outbreak and the state of US banks overshadowed a massive jump in consumer confidence.
There were 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in five US states, and alerts have been raised across the globe. In Mexico, where the outbreak originated, more than 150 people have died of an influenza-type illness.
Delta Air Lines Inc led a drop in travel shares on Wall Street.
Shares of Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc led a decline in the financial sector after The Wall Street Journal reported that a series of government "stress tests" concluded that the struggling banking industry may need more capital.
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 10:33 by Salinder Kumar
Toronto, April 29: Canada Tuesday reported seven more cases of swine flu even as authorities "further enhanced" screening of passengers at airports and advised people against traveling to Mexico.
So far, Mexico has reported 152 deaths linked to the outbreak. The US has confirmed 64 cases, Canada 13, New Zealand 11, Scotland two and Spain one.
Of the seven new cases in Canada Tuesday, four were reported around Toronto in Ontario province, two in Alberta province, and one in British Columbia.
Authorities said all the new cases were linked to the Mexican outbreak as either the affected people or someone from their families had just returned from that country.
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 06:17 by Inderjit Singh
New York, April 29-- Major US stock indices fell for a second straight day Tuesday as concerns over the economic impact of a growing swine-flu outbreak and the state of US banks overshadowed a massive jump in consumer confidence.
There were 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in five US states, and alerts have been raised across the globe. In Mexico, where the outbreak originated, more than 150 people have died of an influenza-type illness.
Delta Air Lines Inc led a drop in travel shares on Wall Street.
Shares of Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc led a decline in the financial sector after The Wall Street Journal reported that a series of government "stress tests" concluded that the struggling banking industry may need more capital.
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Wed, 29/04/2009 - 06:12 by Inderjit Singh
New York, April 29 Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that 44 swine flu cases have been confirmed in New York City, making it the largest cluster of flu cases in the US, even though all cases are mild and everyone is recovering.
Bloomberg said he expects new cases to be confirmed in the coming days as tests continue on students with severe symptoms at Saint Francis High School in Queens, where all the cases originated. The school remained closed Wednesday.
Students at Saint Francis had made a spring holiday trip last week to Mexico, where more than 150 people have died of suspected swine flu since the outbreak first erupted.
Bloomberg said new flu cases were found, not all related to the Saint Francis school. A two-year-old boy in the Bronx and a woman in Brooklyn were hospitalised with flu symptoms.
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Tue, 28/04/2009 - 20:31 by Inderjit Singh
West Lafayette -- A Purdue University veterinarian says flu viruses are named for the first animal in which they are found; the current swine flu was discovered in pigs in 1930.
That discovery is the only reason the current outbreak is called swine flu, said Purdue swine medicine expert Sandy Amass. "We don't even know if the virus found in humans will infect pigs."
No U.S. pigs have been found with swine flu (H1N1) in the current outbreak -- only humans -- but Amass says pork producers should take precautionary measures to protect their herds from being infected with any flu virus:
-- Do not permit people, including employees that have the flu or flu-like symptoms, in or around barns.
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Tue, 28/04/2009 - 16:40 by Salinder Kumar
Washington, April 28: The outbreak and spread of swine flu has come at a time when the global economy is trying to come out of the worst downturn since World War II and has threatened chances of an early recovery, especially in the US.
In recent weeks, economic data suggested a bottoming-out of the global financial crisis, but economists Monday were forced to consider worst-case scenarios in which the recession could become two or three times as painful, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
That would be the result of a full-blown flu pandemic though economic difficulties are likely to deepen even if the outbreak were to remain relatively contained.
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Tue, 28/04/2009 - 10:09 by Salinder Kumar
New York -- Crude oil prices fell on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday as commodities were undermined by an outbreak of the swine flu.
Crude oil fell $1.42 to $50.13 per barrel while health departments warned the swine flu, which broke out in Mexico, could become pandemic.
Heating oil prices fell 0.037 cents to $1.3285 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline dropped 0.0353 cents to $1.4030 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.012 cents to $3.261 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.05 Monday, down from Sunday's $2.052 a gallon, AAA said.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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