WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States may have escaped the worst of a swine flu outbreak, top officials said, but stressed the real test would come when the winter influenza season hits later this year.
The A(H1N1) flu virus was confirmed in more than half of the 50 US states, and officials said the World Health Organization was likely to raise its global pandemic alert to the maximum level of six.
"When you talk about level six, which they very well could go to this week, all that means is it's widespread throughout the world," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on CBS program "Face the Nation."
Sebelius said efforts to develop an A(H1N1) vaccine should not undermine an updated inoculation against the seasonal strain of flu that kills 36,000 Americans every year.
Both vaccines were being developed "simultaneously," she said on the "Fox News Sunday" program, but scientists were yet to decide if full-scale production of an A(H1N1) vaccine would prove necessary.
"One of the things that we know is that even if this current situation seems to be lessening, if we are cautiously optimistic, we really don't know what's going to happen when the real flu season hits (together) with H1N1 virus.
"So production of that vaccine is critical to making sure that we don't have increased deaths associated with seasonal flu."
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said swine flu was now present in 30 states, with 226 confirmed infections. Kansas authorities also confirmed two new cases that were awaiting CDC confirmation.
A Mexican toddler who died in Texas remains the only fatality on US soil.
"Virtually all of the United States probably has this virus circulating now," Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for science and public health, told reporters.
There were "several encouraging signs," Schuchat added, as Mexico reported that its most lethal outbreak might be leveling off and no new US deaths were reported.
But Schuchat stressed: "We expect a number of additional states to confirm the virus in the days ahead. I don't think we're out of the woods yet."
One oddity about the outbreak is that most of its victims have been in the prime of life, unlike a normal flu strain which hits elderly people and infants harder.
Schuchat said the CDC was investigating whether seniors may have some immunity from earlier strains of swine flu, such as a US outbreak in 1976, and how that could help treat the population at large.
President Barack Obama and his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon discussed the epidemic for 20 minutes in a telephone call Saturday, underlining the need for strong cross-border cooperation, the White House said.
"I'm optimistic that we are going to be able to manage this effectively, but we still have more work to do," Obama said Friday.
But in a weekly broadcast Saturday, Obama cited "the potential for a pandemic" and stressed: "I would sooner take action now than hesitate and face graver consequences later."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano denied the US government was unnecessarily scaring the public.
"Once you get behind flu, you can't catch up. You have to get ahead of it," she said on ABC's "This Week."
While again rejecting demands from many US lawmakers to close the border with Mexico, Napolitano added: "Today we have done everything that we could do."
The US administration is delivering a quarter of its 50-million-dose stockpile of anti-viral drugs to affected states, and has bought an additional 13 million courses to replenish the reserve.
Obama has also asked Congress for 1.5 billion dollars to purchase additional anti-virals and emergency equipment.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
