health officials warnedof worsening outbreaks of the new H1N1 flu, and a top globalhealth official predicted up to a third of the world’spopulation could eventually become infected. Asian countries, which have had few cases so far, pledgedon Friday to increase stockpiles of flu medicine and cooperatein an emergency, taking no chances this time after the damagewrought by SARS and bird flu in recent years [ID:nBKK124734] U.S. officials say they expect the virus to spread to all50 states and to cause many infections, ranging from mild tosevere There have been two deaths in the United States. “So far we are not seeing any signs of this petering out,”said Dr Richard Besser, acting director of the U.S Centers forDisease Control and Prevention. “We are on the upswing.” A batch of detailed studies on the new “swine flu” virusshowed it was a strange marriage between a triple-hybrid viruswith pig, human and bird elements and a European swine virusnot seen before in North America.

Mexico’s confirmed death toll ticked up to 44 as labstested a backlog of samples from people who died in March andApril. The CDC reported 896 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 fluin 41 states. [ID:nN07381540] Though Mexican officials said they were over the worst,Besser said the country still had significant transmission. A THIRD OF THE WORLD More than 2,000 people in 24 countries have been infectedwith the virus, the World Health Organization said The WHO’s Dr. Keiji Fukuda urged Asian governments to stayalert for a possible wider pandemic that “could infect a thirdor more of the world’s population in the next several months,in the next year.” [ID:nBKK234536] “Even if the illnesses appear relatively mild on anindividual level, with large numbers of infections on theglobal population, you can get large numbers of seriously illpeople,” Fukuda told health ministers from the 10-memberAssociation of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China,Japan and South at a meeting in Bangkok on Thursday. Fukuda said H1N1 flu is not yet spreading in a sustainedway outside North America, so the global pandemic level remainsat 5 out of 6. – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – –For a graphic showing the global spread of the new flustrain, click here- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – — – - – - – — According to a draft statement on Friday, the Asianhealth ministers were concerned that most of the productioncapacity for vaccines was located in North America and Europeand it was inadequate for a global pandemic.

The 13 countries will look at screening people leavingaffected areas but are not planning travel bans. Evidence showed that “imposing travel restrictions wouldhave very little effect on stopping the virus from spreading,but would be highly disruptive to the global and regionalcommunities and pose major negative impacts on the currentglobal economic downturn”, the statement said. In a series of reports rushed into the New England Journalof Medicine on Thursday, researchers said influenza virusesfrom animals are an ongoing threat and doctors need to keep alookout for them. [ID:nN07397262] MYSTIFYING GENES So far the genetic analysis gives no clue about where thenew virus came from, the researchers told a news conference.The European genes were especially mystifying. “Those genes had never been seen in the United Statesbefore,” the CDC’s Dr Michael Shaw said. In Mexico, millions of high school and university studentsreturned to classes as the country got back on its feet aftershutting public places last week to avoid the spread of thedisease.

But visitors to government-run buildings were asked to wearsurgical masks and wash their hands with antibacterial soapbefore entering Restaurants also sanitised diners’ hands asthey arrived [ID:nN07399464] The U.S. pork industry got some good news after beingbattered by import bans by nearly two-dozen countries U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the government”get this turned around” Russia, the fourth-largest export market for U.S. pork,signaled it may lift bans placed on pork by June 1, aspokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative said.[ID:nN07395987](Reporting by Noe Torres, Dan Trotta, Pascal Fletcher,Alistair Bell, Robin Emmott in Mexico, Stephanie Nebehay, LauraMacInnis, Jonathan Lynn in Geneva, Darren Schuettler inBangkok; Writing by Bill Tarrant, Editing by Dean Yates) Stocks Stocks. (For full coverage of the flu outbreak, click [nFLU]) * U.S. officials say outbreak “on the upswing” * Asian countries pledge common fight against flu * First genetic analysis shows virus mutations * U.S.