U.S. tries to get a handle on flu outbreak

The United States declared a public health emergency on Sunday because of an outbreak of swine flu that has infected 20 people across the country and is suspected of killing up to 81 people in Mexico.
Health and security officials announced steps to release some of the U.S. stockpiles of the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. They recommended that local authorities plan for possible school closures and that anyone with symptoms stay at home to reduce the possibility of spreading the illness.
The outbreak is yet another distraction for President Barack Obama as he focuses on rescuing the economy from its worst crisis in decades. His administration will also be mindful of the damage to former President George W. Bush over his government's inept handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
. "At this point, a top priority is to ensure that communication is robust and that medical surveillance efforts are fully activated," John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security, told a White House briefing.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a separate briefing she feared that as health officials searched for evidence of the virus, they would discover some people who have died from it.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was too early to say what impact the outbreak could have on efforts to get the economy back on its feet. Spiraling healthcare costs are already a huge drain on the economy.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the declaration of the public health emergency was necessary to free federal, state and local agencies' resources and authorize the release of funds to buy more antivirals.
The declaration allows health officials to use experimental drugs and tests more liberally, but does not give the federal government extra quarantine powers and does not affect travel or trade.
"This is standard operating procedure," Napolitano stressed, adding that similar declarations had been issued in the past to help states cope with flooding or hurricanes.
CASES MILD
The CDC confirmed 20 cases of swine flu on both coasts and in the heartland states of Kansas and Ohio, but said all the patients had recovered and only one person had to be hospitalized. Officials said they were not testing air travelers from Mexico for the virus.
The CDC is preparing a "yellow card" for travelers explaining the flu symptoms and what precautions to take, Schuchat said. U.S. health officials are stressing frequent hand washing as the first line of defense against the virus.
Tests so far show that the H1N1 component of the seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against the new H1N1 swine flu strain, Schuchat said. It could take several months to develop a vaccine for the new virus, she added.

CDC acting Director Dr. Richard Besser said it was not yet clear why the flu did not appear to be killing people in the United States when it had in Mexico. "We expect to see more cases of swine flu. As we continue to look for cases, we expect that we will find them," Besser said.

Napolitano said the United States would release 25 percent of the 50 million anti-flu drugs from the strategic national stockpile. The Department of Defense has also bought 7 million courses of Tamiflu for defense personnel, she said.
Tamiflu, a pill made by Roche AG and Gilead Sciences Inc, and GlaxoSmithKline's and Biota's Relenza, an inhaled drug, can treat influenza if given quickly. They have been shown to work against this new flu strain.
Gibbs said Obama, who recently returned from a trip to Mexico, had shown no symptoms of the virus and had therefore not been tested.
(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon, Donna Smith and Maggie Fox; editing by Eric Beech and Philip Barbara)