Cancun, Mexico - A two-day summit on the swine flu pandemic
that has sickened more than 77,000 people around the world opened
Thursday in the Mexican resort city of Cancun.
'We need to watch very carefully what happens during the current
winter season in the southern hemisphere,' said World Health
Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan in opening remarks.
'For reasons that are not well understood, some deaths are
occurring in perfectly healthy young people. Moreover, some patients
experience a very rapid clinical deterioration,' Chan said.
WHO on Wednesday reported a total of 77,201 infections around the
world and 332 deaths. The United States, Mexico and Canada continue
to have the highest numbers of infections, with figures rising
rapidly in Argentina.
Chan thanked the three North American countries - Mexico was the
epicentre of the outbreak in April - for their openness in letting
the world quickly know of the new virus, and stressed that closing
borders made no sense to combat the spread of the flu.
Mexico gave the world early warning, Chan said, and thus became a
model for other countries in similar circumstances.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said his government responded
appropriately to the then-mysterious virus. 'Information is the
cornerstone for the management of a health crisis,' he said.
Ministers from 43 countries and officials from various multi-
lateral agencies were at the summit, being held at the Moon Palace
Hotel in Cancun, to discuss the lessons learned from the flu pandemic
and the need for a vaccine.
USA
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