MEXICO CITY — An unusual strain of swine flu is being blamed in the deaths of dozens of people in Mexico, where authorities closed schools, libraries and theaters in the capital Friday to try to contain an outbreak that has raised concerns of a global flu epidemic.
Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordoba said 68 people have died of flu, and the new swine flu strain had been confirmed in 20 of those deaths. At least 1,004 people were sick from the suspected flu, he said.
The virus — which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers haven't seen before — also sickened at least eight people in Central Texas and California, though all have recovered.
"We are very, very concerned," World Health Organization spokesman Thomas Abraham said. "We have what appears to be a novel virus, and it has spread from human to human. ... It's all hands on deck at the moment."
The "all hands on deck" comment is appropriate.
As many as 75 students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens got sick on Thursday. More got sick on Friday. What health officials want to know is was it swine flu or something more benign.
There are mounting fears about a deadly swine flu virus that is reported to have killed as many as 60 people in Mexico, one that health officials fear has already seeped into the United States.
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This might be an appropriate time for you to start looking around for the lifeboats.
That is if they haven't all left yet.
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