http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/0 ... index.html
美國第二例死亡病例且是美國居民
以四成的比例快速增加
目前確定病例403人擴及38個州
A Texas woman has died from the swine flu, health officials in that state said Tuesday, marking the second death in the United States linked to the illness and the first of a U.S. resident.
Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. Richard Besser tour part of the CDC on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia.
1 of 2 The news came as officials in the United States and Mexico, where the outbreak of the H1N1 virus started, were voicing hope that the worst of the new flu strain may be over.
The woman, who died earlier this week, was from Cameron County in South Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services said the woman had "chronic underlying health conditions," but did not provide more details.
The United States' first death from swine flu came last week: a toddler whose family was visiting Houston, Texas, from Mexico.
By Tuesday afternoon, the number of confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus stood at 1,490 in 22 countries, according to the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number includes 822 confirmed cases in Mexico.
WHO has confirmed 30 deaths worldwide from the virus, including 29 in Mexico. The count did not include the most recently reported death in the United States.
There were 403 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the United States, according to the CDC, and another 693 suspected cases counted by various state agencies.
The 403 confirmed U.S. cases are in 38 states, most of them in New York (90), Illinois (82), California (49) and Texas (42), the CDC said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials now recommend that schools stop closing when a case of swine flu is confirmed at a school, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday.
Scientists believe the H1N1 virus epidemic is no more dangerous than seasonal flu, and schools should act accordingly, Sebelius said.
"This virus does not seem to be as severe as we once thought it would be," she said at the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sick students should be kept home for seven days, she said, "but the schools should feel comfortable about opening."
Schools that have been closed can reopen, Sebelius said.
Dr. Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, said that closing schools in a pandemic has a definite benefit. But closing during a general flu outbreak is not required, he said.
When you get to situations that are approaching general flu, then the downside of closing schools outweighs the benefits," Besser said.
And federal officials have been hearing from local officials "how incredibly difficult and burdensome school closure is," he said.
He called the new guidance "a science-based decision that involves a lot of judgment