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U.S. medical experts investigating a novel swine flu outbreak awaited samples Thursday night from Mexico, where a respiratory illness has killed as many as 20 people.
Seven cases of a previously undetected strain of swine flu have been confirmed in humans in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. None of the patients had direct contact with pigs.
Five of the cases were found in California, and two in Texas, near San Antonio, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s interim deputy director for science and public health program.
The Mexican samples were to be tested at the centers based in Atlanta, Georgia, spokesman David Daigle told CNN by e-mail. He would not confirm that the samples were related to the respiratory outbreak, but said the CDC “understand Canada has samples, and is testing, and has placed a travel alert for travel to Mexico.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada issued a respiratory alert for Mexico on Wednesday, recommending that health providers “actively look for cases” in Canada, particularly in people who’ve returned from Mexico within two weeks.
The CDC reported Tuesday that two California children in the San Diego area were infected with a virus called swine influenza A H1N1, whose combination of genes had not been seen before in flu viruses in humans or pigs.
The seven patients range from age 9 to 54, Schuchat said. They include two 16-year-olds at a Texas school, and a father and daughter in California.
“The good news is that all seven of these patients have recovered,” Schuchat said.
The first two cases were picked up through an influenza monitoring program, with stations in San Diego and El Paso, Texas. The program monitors strains and tries to detect new ones before they spread, the CDC said. Other cases emerged through routine and expanded surveillance.
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