| | |  Health & Beauty | May 2009 
Jalisco Imposes Shutdown After Suspected Flu Deaths
 The News (with Wire Reports)
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The state of Jalisco closed its schools and social gathering spots on Friday after three people died from suspected H1N1 swine flu in the western state during a 24-hour period.
Gov. Emilio González Márquez said at a press conference that classes at levels from primary school through university will be closed until May 18, as will venues such as bars, nightclubs, cinemas and sports stadiums.
González said tests from the three new victims - a 24-year-old woman, a 35-year-old man and an 11-year-old-boy - had been sent to the federal epidemiology institute for swine flu confirmation.
"We don't yet have laboratory confirmation of the cause of their deaths," he said. "Regardless, the clinical data leads us to believe that the probable cause is the H1N1 swine flu virus."
Meanwhile on Friday, the small central state of Hidalgo said it would keep schools closed until May 18 after 45 new cases of the virus were confirmed there during the previous 24 hours, Reforma reported. And according to other media reports, the state of Guerrero also postponed a return to classes after turning up 19 new suspected swine flu cases in the past week.
Citing a declining trend in new infections, federal officials lifted a nationwide school closure this week, allowing high schools and universities to return to class Thursday and primary and secondary schools to return Monday. A five-day national shutdown of government offices and nonessential businesses ended Wednesday, and Mexico City, the epicenter of the epidemic, lifted restrictions on restaurants and other social establishments starting Thursday.
Officials say their fast implementation of social distancing, disinfecting public spaces and education about hand hygiene helped control the spread of the virus.
Deaths from the virus would have ballooned to 8,605 and more than 30,000 people would have been hospitalized without the restrictions, according to Oscar Mújica, an analyst with the Pan American Health Organization.
"An epidemic of influenza, with a propagation similar to what we have observed in Mexico, without measures of control, would have a potential impact considerably greater than what we have observed," Mújica said during a press conference in Mexico City.
Earlier on Friday, federal authorities reported one more confirmed swine flu death, based on lab tests of patients who died in days past, to raise the total to 45. The national case total climbed to 1,364 from 1,204.
Twenty-six of the 45 swine flu deaths in Mexico were people ages 20 to 39. A quarter of the dead were obese.
Diabetes, the nation's leading cause of death, was associated with many of the victims, as were cardiovascular problems, Health Secretary José Angel Córdova said. |
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