Mexico (AP) — As swine flu runs rampant in the Southern Hemisphere winter, world health experts are concerned that some hard-hit countries have been reluctant to take forceful measures to protect public health.Only Friday did Argentina's new health minister, Juan Manzur, raise the country's official death toll to 44. He now estimates that as many as 320,000 people have been stricken with influenza, including about 100,000 with swine flu — a huge jump in what the government acknowledged previously, and an indication that Argentina's hospitals will remain overwhelmed for months.
Britain, for its part, had refused to do widespread testing for swine flu, slowing the World Health Organization's efforts to declare that the viral spread had become a pandemic. Britain's Health Minister Andy Burnham belatedly acknowledged Thursday that Britain needs to revamp its response and could see up to 100,000 new swine flu cases a day by the end of August.
The government was reluctant to implement unpopular measures leading up to last Sunday's midterm elections in Argentina. Now that they're over, it ramped up its response this week — doubling the winter vacation to a month for schools nationwide, sending pregnant women and other vulnerable workers home for 15 days and urging people to avoid crowds whenever possible.
But Argentina still refuses to declare a national public health emergency, despite ranking third in the world for swine flu deaths behind the United States and Mexico.
"An unfortunate situation in Argentina was this mix of elections and a pandemic, which we epidemiologists don't recommend," said Mirta Roses, director of the Pan American Health Organization, which has 25 experts working in Argentina this week.
Mexico, in contrast, deserves the whole world's thanks for its forceful, costly and very public response, which included a near-total shutdown of the nation's public life that cost the country $3.5 billion.
For further details visit as : www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i46oeYP9RtskmU4CNoPNU08B5R_wD997B4FO0
Britain, for its part, had refused to do widespread testing for swine flu, slowing the World Health Organization's efforts to declare that the viral spread had become a pandemic. Britain's Health Minister Andy Burnham belatedly acknowledged Thursday that Britain needs to revamp its response and could see up to 100,000 new swine flu cases a day by the end of August.
The government was reluctant to implement unpopular measures leading up to last Sunday's midterm elections in Argentina. Now that they're over, it ramped up its response this week — doubling the winter vacation to a month for schools nationwide, sending pregnant women and other vulnerable workers home for 15 days and urging people to avoid crowds whenever possible.
But Argentina still refuses to declare a national public health emergency, despite ranking third in the world for swine flu deaths behind the United States and Mexico.
"An unfortunate situation in Argentina was this mix of elections and a pandemic, which we epidemiologists don't recommend," said Mirta Roses, director of the Pan American Health Organization, which has 25 experts working in Argentina this week.
Mexico, in contrast, deserves the whole world's thanks for its forceful, costly and very public response, which included a near-total shutdown of the nation's public life that cost the country $3.5 billion.
For further details visit as : www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i46oeYP9RtskmU4CNoPNU08B5R_wD997B4FO0
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