Please note that the World Health Organization (WHO) and other government agencies have begun referring to “swine flu” as influenza A (H1N1) due to the fact that the virus is now a human strain being spread from person-to-person. The WHO also continued to stress that there is no risk of infection from the H1N1 virus from eating well-cooked pork and pork products.
H1N1 A Influenza Cases by Country
| Country | Cases | Deaths | ||
| Lab Confirmed* | Increase from May 2, 2009 | Lab Confirmed* | Increase from Yesterday | |
| | 454
| 57
| 19 | 3
|
| US | 197 | 57
| 1 | 0 |
| | 85
| 34
| 0 | 0 |
| | 15 | 2
| 0 | 0 |
| | 20
| 7
| 0 | 0 |
| | 4 | 0
| 0 | 0 |
| | 8
| 4
| 0 | 0 |
| | 3
| 1
| 0 | 0 |
| | 2
| 1
| 0 | 0 |
| | 2
| 1
| 0 | 0 |
| | 2
| 1
| 0 | 0 |
| | 2
| 1
| 0 | 0 |
| | 2
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| | 2
| 1
| 0 | 0 |
| Rep. of | 2
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 798
| 169
| 19 | 7 |
*The number of confirmed cases and deaths follows the daily tally provided by the WHO (Update 9 – 3 May 2009): http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_05_02/en/index.html. Recent news reports, however, suggest that Mexico may soon lower their case and death count following a revised assessment of cases numbers and data.
**Please note that this number of confirmed cases in Canada has not yet been recognized by the WHO (as of 3 May 2009 @ 0430 hrs PST).
Local/National News
- It was reported that pigs at an Alberta farm caught the same swine flu strain that has sickened hundreds of humans around the world, federal officials said Saturday. A farmhand who travelled to Mexico and fell ill upon his return apparently infected the pigs with the H1N1 influenza virus, said David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer.
- Health officials in
- To date, there are:
- 15 confirmed cases in
- 14 confirmed cases in
- 12 confirmed cases in
- Eight confirmed cases in
- Two confirmed cases in
- One confirmed case in
- The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has launched a public information campaign to help Canadians avoid contracting the H1N1 virus.
-BC Ministry of Health Services: http://www.gov.bc.ca/govt/swine_flu.html
- BC Centre for Disease Control: http://www.bccdc.org/news.php?item=290&PHPSESSID=ba536e1720194818950bc259497219d5
- Fraser Health: www.fraserhealth.ca
- Interior Health: http://www.interiorhealth.ca/
- Northern Health: http://northernhealth.ca/
International News
Spain is the hardest-hit European Union nation; however, Spanish health
officials say all but one of its 20 confirmed cases involved recent visitors to Mexico.Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa complained that China had
isolated several Mexicans without reason and urged Mexicans not totravel to China until the situation was resolved.
- In Iraq, three wild boars at Baghdad's zoo have been killed because of swine flu fears, a health official said Sunday. The animals were killed over the weekend though international experts have said there is no evidence the virus is spread by food. Iraq has no documented cases of swine flu.
Today’s Key Question (and Possible Answer)
Is there a risk from drinking water?
Tap water that has been treated by conventional disinfection processes
does not likely pose a risk for transmission of influenza viruses.
Current drinking water treatment regulations provide a high degree of
protection from viruses. No research has been completed on the
susceptibility of the novel H1N1 flu virus to conventional drinking water
treatment processes. However, recent studies have demonstrated that free
chlorine levels typically used in drinking water treatment are adequate
to inactivate highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. It is likely that
other influenza viruses such as novel H1N1 would also be similarly
inactivated by chlorination. To date, there have been no documented human
cases of influenza caused by exposure to influenza-contaminated drinking
water.
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