Saturday, May 16, 2009

New flu strain spreads to Turkey and India

Sat May 16, 2009

By Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey and India confirmed their first cases of H1N1 flu on Saturday, all involving air passengers arriving from the United States.

Thirty-eight countries have now confirmed cases of the new flu strain, a mix of swine, human and avian viruses, which last month prompted the World Heath Organisation to raise its global pandemic alert level to 5 on a 6-point scale.

The western Japanese city of Kobe said it would close some public schools for a week after eight people were confirmed as being infected with the new H1N1 influenza, commonly known as swine flu.

Three of the eight were teenage students from the same school -- the first confirmed cases in Japan involving people who had not been overseas. The other five were from another school, Kyodo news agency said.

The WHO, whose data lags national tallies, had earlier put the number of confirmed worldwide cases at 8,451, with 72 deaths.

The vast majority of deaths -- 66 -- have been in Mexico, where the outbreak started. The United States has reported four, and Canada and Costa Rica one each.

FAMILY QUARANTINE

Turkey identified its first two cases in a married couple travelling to Iraq from the United States, health officials and local media said. Continued...

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