Mexico Lowers Swine-Flu Death Toll; Italy Has 1st Case

Mexico has lowered its estimated death toll from new influenza strain referred to as swine flu, giving heart to public health officials, but few were taking chances with an unpredictable virus that has sparked fears of a pandemic.

Italy reported its first case of the H1N1 virus, a man in the Tuscany region who had recently traveled to Mexico. The head of the public health agency in the city of Massa, Andrea Marcuzzi, told Reuters the man had completely recovered.

AP Pharmacist wearing face mask

In Hong Kong, police quarantined a hotel with 200 guests and 100 staff after a Mexican guest was confirmed ill with the virus.

And Britain, with 15 confirmed cases, launched "Catch it, Bin it, Kill it!" advertisements urging people to cover coughs and sneezes with tissues, throw them away and wash their hands to slow the spread of the virus.

"We don't know yet if this is more severe or less severe or if similar severity to seasonal flu. But we do know that this is new," said Dr Anne Schuchat, a senior official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which confirmed 160 cases in 21 states.

In Geneva, a World Health Organization official said the virus had not spread in a sustained way outside North America, as would be required before the global pandemic alert level was increased from its current level of 5 to 6, the highest alert level.

"We have no evidence of sustained community spread outside of North America," Michael Ryan, WHO Director of Global Alert and Response, told a news briefing.

Mexican authorities cut their suspected death toll to up to 101 from as many as 176, as dozens of test samples came back negative. Fewer patients with severe flu symptoms were checking into hospitals, suggesting the infection rate was falling.

The World Health Organization said Saturday 15 countries have reported 615 infections.

Almost all infections outside Mexico have been mild. The only death in another country has been a Mexican toddler who was taken to the United States before he fell sick.

The U.S. CDC agreed the outbreak may not be as severe as it looked a few days ago, citing many mild cases that were not immediately noticed..

President Barack Obama said the United States was responding aggressively to the new flu strain.

He outlined steps being taken to address the virus, including school closures, and said antivirals were being distributed to states where they may be needed and new stockpiles had been ordered.

Seeking Answers

For Mexicans, spending a second weekend indoors, the data was cheering. But Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova cautioned it was too early to say Mexico had control of the flu.

"For now it's unpredictable," Cordova said late on Friday. "We need more days to see how it behaves and whether there is really a sustained decline."

Scientists are still trying to assess how the new virus compares to regular seasonal flu strains, which kill between 250,000 and 500,000 globally every year.

Although the outbreak remains tiny compared to other epidemics such as malaria, hepatitis and meningitis, the WHO hiked its pandemic alert level from three to five last week due to its rapid spread and the possibility it could hit hard in poor and disease-prone communities, including among people with HIV.

The virus is already causing havoc with a travel industry that flies hundreds of thousands of people to and from Mexico each week.

Major U.S. airlines including Delta Air Lines , U.S. Airways , Continental Airlines and UAL's United Airlines said they were cutting services to Mexico on Friday, citing lower demand for flights to the country hard hit by a flu outbreak.

Air Canada has said it was temporarily suspending operations to popular resorts such as Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, and Spain's Air Europa said it would cut charter flights. Germany's Lufthansa announced contingency plans to cut flights and drop routes amid the crisis, and said it would place doctors on its planes to Mexico in hopes of detecting any flu infections early.

China suspended flights to Mexico after Hong Kong authorities on Friday confirmed a Mexican man who flew via the Chinese mainland was infected with the flu strain.

Police in surgical masks quarantined 200 guests and 100 staff inside a Hong Kong hotel where the Mexican, 25, had been staying, saying they would be confined for a week.

"They said everybody needed to go back to their rooms. I don't want to go to my room because I want to be out," an Australian man at the hotel told a TV reporter by telephone.

The Asian Development Bank said it was prepared to provide assistance to countries in the region to cope with the possible spread of flu.

Mexico has released a confusing batch of flu data in recent days but public hospitals have noted a steady drop in patients turning up with fevers, suggesting the infection rate may be declining as the nation dons face masks and hand gel.

"There are very few deaths worldwide," said Marcelo Musi, a salesman shopping for vegetables in Mexico City, where residents weary of masks, hand sanitizers and frightening headlines clutched at signs of an end to the crisis. "If there are no more cases, they say things will get better."

Cordova said of 159 files on suspected flu deaths, tests showed 58 died of other causes. He said 16 deaths are confirmed as caused by the H1N1 flu and 85 are being tested.

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