Flu Pandemic Scare Spikes Antiviral Prescriptions

U.S. antiviral prescriptions spiked ninefold early this week after last weekend's media coverage about a possible flu pandemic, according to new data.

AP Pharmacist wearing face mask

Prescriptions rose by ninefold on Monday and by nearly nine times on Tuesday compared to average daily volume in the rest of April, according to pharmaceutical market research firm SDI.

The level marked the highest point so far this year for antiviral prescriptions.

The upward trend started on Friday, April 24, a day after the first public U.S. government announcement of cases of a new strain of flu, once known as swine flu, in California and Texas, SDI said.

Prescription sales rose far higher in major metropolitan areas.

In Los Angeles, daily prescription volume jumped 16-fold on Monday to the highest level it has reached on any single day in the past two flu seasons.

In New York, volume climbed more than 14 times the daily April average on Monday, and rose to 15 times on Tuesday, according to SDI, which did not release data for later in the week.

Shares of Roche and Glaxo jumped earlier this week as investors bet the threat of a flu pandemic would provide a windfall for the drugmakers.

Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise Lines said Friday it has canceled all Mexico port visits for 16 of its ships through May 11 due to the flu alert.

The giant cruise ship operator had previous canceled Mexican stops through May 4.

"Itineraries for vessels departing between Thursday, April 30 and Monday, May 11 that included stops in Mexico have been modified," the statement said.

Carnival said it is offering refunds in the form of future cruise credit to customers who do not want to sail on the modified itineraries.

Hong Kong's leader said Friday the territory has a confirmed case of swine flu, Asia's first. Besides Mexico and the U.S., cases have also been confirmed in six European nations, Canada, New Zealand and Israel.

In Mexico, a top Mexican medical officer accused the World Health Organization of being slow to respond to the country's warning about a health crisis that turned into a global swine flu scare. The WHO disputed the claim.

Mexico's chief epidemiologist, Dr. Miguel Angel Lezana, told The Associated Press late Thursday his center alerted the Pan American Health Organization, a regional arm of WHO, on April 16 about an unusually late rash of flu and pneumonia cases in Mexico.

But he said no action was taken until eight days later, when the WHO announced it was worried the outbreak could become a pandemic.

"It seems it should have been more immediate," Lezana, director of the National Epidemiology Center, told AP in a telephone interview.

He called for an investigation into WHO's handling of the crisis.

WHO officials said Friday the agency learned April 9 of cases of "suspicious influenza" from Mexico and responded quickly on April 24 when U.S. and Canadian laboratories identified the virus as a new strain of flu.

Mexican health authorities came under criticism, particularly from frustrated citizens, for a slow and bumbling early response to the outbreak.

In the United States, the confirmed case count stood at 132. State lab operators say there are more cases than the confirmed number because they are not testing all suspected cases, focusing on finding new outbreak hot spots and limiting the flu's spread.

In Mexico, the outbreak's epicenter, new cases and the death rate were leveling off, the country's top medical officer said.

Health authorities said they have confirmed 300 swine flu cases and 12 deaths due to the virus.

"The fact that we have a stabilization in the daily numbers, even a drop, makes us optimistic," Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said. "Because what we'd expect is geometric or exponential growth. And that hasn't been the situation."

The only confirmed swine flu death outside Mexico was a Mexican toddler who died in a Texas hospital Monday.

The United States is buying 13 million courses of anti-flu drugs to replenish its stockpile and sending 400,000 courses to Mexico.

U.S. health officials say a swine flu vaccine could not be ready until fall at the earliest.

The Red Cross says it is readying an army of 60 million volunteers who could be deployed around the world to help slow the virus' spread.

Mexico's health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova, said Friday three more swine flu deaths were confirmed, bringing Mexico's confirmed toll to 15. He said Mexico's total sickened rose by 43, to 343.

Cordova said Mexicans with flu symptoms are now seeking medical attention quickly, and suspected swine flu cases are getting treatment even before the virus is confirmed, preventing deaths and limiting the virus' spread.

Mexico shut down all but essential government services and private businesses Friday, the start of a five-day shutdown that includes a holiday weekend.

Schools are also closed through Tuesday. Mexico City's notoriously clogged avenues were clear, crime was down and the smog dropped to levels normally seen only on holidays. Mexico is using the shutdown to determine whether to extend or ease emergency measures.

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