West Australians tested as suspected global flu infections hit 6000

The number of Australians being tested for swine flu has been revised down to 91, a health official said this morning, but eight WA residents remain under investigation for suspected cases of the deadly virus.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Nicola Roxon said today that 91 people displaying flu symptoms were being checked for the potentially deadly virus.

“It’s a constantly changing number, so as people are cleared they go off the list,” she said.

So far there have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Australia.

Overnight in Canberra, Governor-General Quentin Bryce has consented to sweeping new quarantine powers for health officials in response to the global outbreak.

The powers include allowing authorities to detain people suspected of having the potentially deadly virus.

“Using disinfectants on planes or at ports, through to the far more extreme (powers) which are making sure that people are isolated and perhaps detained if they don’t cooperate and are showing symptoms of this disease,” Ms Roxon said today.

But Ms Roxon stressed they were only precautionary measures and won’t necessarily be used.

“We are not about to take those steps but we want to make sure that all the powers are there, that we are ready to act if this takes a dramatic turn for the worst,” she said.

A third of the Australians with flu-like symptoms are being tested and results are expected in the next 48 hours.

The WA Health Department says those tested have been sent home with face-masks and told not to be in physical contact with other people until the results are known.

Swine flu cases in the United States continued to rise overnight to nearly 70, prompting President Barack Obama to ask Congress for $A2.2 billion to fight the fast-spreading disease as health officials warned that deaths were likely.

US officials suggested the flu may be spreading so quickly, there may be no practical way to contain it — and no need to tighten borders further. The disease is suspected of causing more than 150 deaths in neighboring Mexico.
 
At least seven people have been hospitalised with swine flu in the US, and Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said deaths are likely.

“I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection” as cases are investigated, he said.

Health officials revealed overnight that the number of deaths, all in Mexico, had reached 152 and up to 6000 across the globe were showing symptoms.

In Mexico City, surgical masks have been issued to all residents, schools and entertainment venues closed and public events cancelled.

PERTH,CANBERRA,WASHINGTON
AAP,AP

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