US declares health emergency regarding swine flu

The United States has declared a health emergency to contain the swine flu outbreak.

Schools in New York, Texas, California and Ohio are closing amid concerns the disease would spread.

The US declared the health emergency amid confusion about whether new numbers really mean ongoing infections.

But the move allows the government to ship roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states.

A New York City school where eight cases were confirmed will be closed today and tomorrow, and 14 schools in Texas, including a high school where two cases were confirmed, will be closed for at least the next week.

Some schools in California and Ohio also are closing after students were found or suspected to have the flu.

Swine flu has been confirmed in at least 20 people in the US, in New York, Kansas, California, Texas and Ohio. Many of the victims had recently visited Mexico.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that many victims were recovering, but that some family members of students also had flu symptoms, “suggesting it is spreading person to person.”

Governor David Paterson said 1,500 treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu had been sent to New York.

Infectious-disease specialists, epidemiologists and disaster preparedness workers have been dispatched to New York to monitor and respond to possible flu cases.