Caribbean all clear on Swine Flu; WHO says it's OK to eat pork

The Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Port of Spain, Trinidad reported on Sunday that all the tests it conducted for suspected cases of Swine Flu have been negative.

The good news is contained in a brief statement on the website pointing out that while all tests so far have been negative the centre is still receiving specimens from suspected cases. It urges continued vigilance.

“Persons experiencing influenza-like symptoms, especially following international travel, should be advised to seek immediate medical attention as guided by their Ministry of Health,” it said.

Health officials in the region are also calling on persons who may have visited affected countries to seek medical advice, even if they are not displaying symptoms, which include a fever of more than 100 degrees, body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhoea. They are also urging their nationals to re-consider all non-essential travel to affected countries.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) latest bulletin at 06:00 GMT, 4 May 2009, stated that 20 countries have officially reported 985 cases of the flu, which the WHO is now calling "influenza A (H1N1) infection".

It said Mexico has reported 590 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 25 deaths. The United States has reported 226 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death. Canada has 101 cases, the third highest number in the world.

WHO spokesperson Gregory Härtl told reporters in Geneva Sunday that the agency's pandemic alert remained at Phase Five - on a six-level warning scale - meaning that sustained human to human transmission had been confirmed, with widespread community outbreaks in at least two regions.

He said it's not possible to say when or if the WHO might raise the alert level to Phase 6. "That is not very easy to predict because transmission of influenza A virus or of any virus for that matter does not necessarily always move at the same speed. We don't know when that will happen. Certainly we remain on alert in case that happens. But it would not be prudent to make a prediction in that regard," he stated.

The organization also moved Sunday to reassure everyone that eating pork is not the cause of the flu. Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO's Food Safety Scientist emphasised at a news conference Sunday that the virus is not food-borne.

"You don't get this disease through eating pork and, therefore, there is no reason to be afraid of consuming pork or pork products," he said, adding that "From all the studies that have been done with influenza viruses they all seem to have more or less the same characteristics in terms of their heat resistance. As soon as you cook a product that may contain these viruses, they will get inactivated.

He said cooking is the best defence. "So consuming fully-cooked or well-cooked products, whether we're talking about this virus in pork or avian influenza virus in chickens, there is no risk of getting infected that way," Dr. Embarek stated.

And he insisted that there is no need to destroy pigs anywhere in the world.

That assurance hasn't stopped the paranoia over the animals. In Egypt, the government has ordered the destruction of all 300,000 pigs in the country, sparking riots by those trying to protect their animals. Many countries have suspended imports of pork and pork products from North America.

On Monday China stopped imports of pork from Alberta, Canada where swine flu was detected on a pig farm. Canadian officials said Saturday that most of the pigs at the central Alberta farm in question have recovered, but they still have the animals under quarantine as a precaution.