Mexico shut down schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across it overcrowded capital Friday in hopes of containing a swine flu outbreak that authorities say killed at least 20 people – and perhaps dozens more. World health authorities worried openly that the strange new virus could become a global epidemic. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tests show some of the Mexico victims died from the same new strain of swine flu that sickened eight people in Texas and California. Mexico put the confirmed toll at 20 dead, but 40 other fatalities were being probed, and at least 943 nationwide were sick from the suspected flu, the health department said. Scientists said the virus combines genetic material from animals, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before. “We are very, very concerned,” spokesman Thomas Abraham said. “We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human,” he said. “It's all hands on deck at the moment.” President Felipe Calderon canceled a trip and met with his Cabinet to coordinate Mexico's response. The government has 500,000 flu vaccines and planned to administer them to health workers, the highest risk group.There are no vaccines available for the general public in Mexico, and authorities urged people to avoid hospitals unless they had a medical emergency, since hospitals are centers of infection. They also said Mexicans should refrain from customary greetings such as shaking hands or kissing cheeks, and authorities at Mexico City's international airport were questioning passengers to try to prevent anybody with possible influenza from boarding airplanes and spreading the disease. But the CDC said Americans need not avoid traveling to Mexico, as long as they take the usual precautions, such as frequent handwashing. “We certainly have 60 deaths that we can't be sure are from the same virus, but it is probable,” said Health Secretary Jose Cordova. He called it a “new, different strain.” Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a pandemic, a worldwide spread of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect an animal or a person mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.
