World Braces for Flu Pandemic
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We'll be hearing more from the president throughout this hour as we join the rest of CNN and a whole lot of viewers assessing his first 100 days. First though, the very latest on the flu, news breaking as we speak, public schools closing in Ft. Worth, Texas, as we mentioned. That starts tomorrow and continuing until May 11th. Also, there are now confirmed or suspected cases being reported in 20 states, the latest Tennessee. One child has died, a U.S. Marine in California has tested positive for swine flu. Researchers are working nonstop on a vaccine. Globally, Austria and Germany reported their first cases, Spain and Britain reported more. And in Switzerland, global health officials issued a warning that made everyone stop and catch their breath. We have more on all of it now from Randi Kaye.</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the World Health Organization, a clear signal that a pandemic is imminent. It raised its threat level from four to five, indicating widespread human infection. Since it started five years ago, the alert has never been higher than three.</s>DR. MARGARET CHAN, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WHO: All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans.</s>KAYE: This, on the same day the first death from swine flu is reported in the U.S., a 23-month-old boy died at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Doctors say the toddler had traveled from Mexico to Texas to visit relatives and was likely already infected by the time he arrived.</s>DR. JEFFREY STARKE, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: This child received respiratory support, this child received antibiotics and other appropriate medications.</s>KAYE: The Centers for Disease Control warning of more deaths to come. Already, more than 140 are confirmed infected in at least ten states, nine countries. (on camera): To help protect their citizens, China and Russia have banned pork imports from the U.S. and Mexico even though the World Health Organization says the flu is not transmitted through pig meat. Japan has been taking the temperature of passengers arriving from Mexico, and Egypt is considering killing all pigs, even though there are no reported swine flu cases in that country. (voice-over): In the United States, more than 90 cases confirmed; 51 in New York. At least 74 schools have closed across the country. The president says any school battling swine flu should consider closing temporarily.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because this is a new strain, we have to be cautious.</s>KAYE: But help is on the way. The U.S. government has started delivering Tamiflu and Relenza, anti-viral medications that could save lives if taken early enough. The state should have it within days. And a vaccine, which could take months, is being worked on.</s>KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: We're in full gear and the process is more speedy than it's ever been before.</s>KAYE: That's good news for the U.S. military, now that a marine in California has tested positive for swine flu and is in isolation. His roommate and dozens of other marines may be at risk.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our concern is that they've been exposed to a young Marine.</s>KAYE: Not even those who protect our country can protect themselves from a killer virus. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.</s>COOPER: Well, we said it before. We're committed to bringing you nothing but the facts and not fear-mongering on the flu outbreak. You can always learn more by going to AC360.com where we've gotten answers to frequently asked questions. And they're being updated constantly. To Mexico now with the good news is the growth of cases and fatalities appears to be slowing. The bad news and the breaking news is the country is quickly shutting down. Late word tonight from the Mexican government announcing a work stoppage for all nonessential public- and private-sector jobs, hospitals on the other hand being the major exception. Some of them starting to look like the science fiction movie minus the fiction, take a look.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN VIDEO CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Now this here, we're getting to the business end of the operation here. You can see the medics there in these biohazard suits, full suits that cover them from head to toe, they've got gloves on. You can also see that they have the face mask. This is possibly the most sophisticated equipment we've seen any of the medics have in Mexico because the hospital was recently inaugurated. Then they have the resources. Now, this is the door where you'll see the patients who are displaying some symptoms are being taken. They'll be taken in there for a series of checks. They'll be taken in there for observation.</s>COOPER: That's Karl Penhaul. Also in Mexico City for us tonight with "360 MD" Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, what does this mean that Mexican officials tonight essentially shutting down the country May 1st through the 5th? Why do that? And could that happen in places here in the U.S.?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reason to do it is because of this idea of social isolation being one of the best strategies towards trying to prevent human-to-human transmission of this virus. That's the thing that most people are worried about, it's happening here in Mexico. And it is happening in the United States. To your second question, it is something that could happen, I think, in the United States. In Mexico specifically its nonessential government sector work, nonessential private sector work, shut down for those five days, roughly. The president talked about this tonight, Anderson, as you know, he talked about it with schools specifically, but this idea that if at some point you think it's necessary in some way that you start to isolate people in a way that contains the pathogen in the certain areas and doesn't let it spread around -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: We heard from the WHO today, though, that humanity itself is threatened. I mean, if you're not trying to freak people out that's not -- I mean, if you're trying to freak people out, that's a pretty good way to it. What does that mean? And in when they say the pandemic is imminent, exactly what does that mean?</s>GUPTAN: Dr. Chen did talk about the fact that this is affecting the entire globe, and she made that point a few times. You know, there are several different scales of this pandemic scale, this is level five, which means that you have sustained human- to-human transmission in at least two countries; the United States and Mexico. It was somewhat frightening -- certainly to listen to her words today. And this is never -- we've never gotten this high before since the scale has come out to a level five, which means there is an imminent pandemic. It is a call to action for pharmaceutical companies, for businesses to up the ante a bit, to get things moving in terms of making drugs and getting things moving along. One thing I will say Anderson, I think this is an important, when you think pandemic, I think a lot of people tend to reflect on the pandemics from years past. Lots have changed since then. First of all, we are much better taking care of people in hospitals, we have anti-viral medications and also, this is more about the scope, how many people will get infected as opposed to the severity. So it doesn't mean that everyone is going to die. It doesn't mean that many people will die. It means that people will get infected. In the United States so far, as you know it's been mainly mild illnesses.</s>COOPER: There are some people are going to say, look, it sounds like hype. I mean, most of the cases in the United States have been pretty mild. There was a death today, an infant died in Texas, contracted it in Mexico. I mean, there is a disparity between sort of the level of concern and the actual results we've seen thus far. Is it hype? Is it being over-hyped?</s>GUPTA: YOU know, this -- these are probably some of those most difficult stories for me as a doctor journalist to cover because of the questions that you're asking. On one hand, you have this brand-new virus that the world has never seen before. None of us as a result have any immunity to it. You don't, I don't, none of the people here in Mexico or the United States do. So that's of concern. We rely a little bit on our natural immunity to fight things off every day. If we have none, that's of concern. It's also something that is spread around the world. That wasn't contained here in Mexico despite some very good efforts. So that's also of concern. I think what is -- may be a little bit of hype is just how serious this is going to be. As you say, it's just been mild illnesses in the United States. Over the summer months, my guess is, this will start to fizzle down. Most infections do over the summer months, we just don't transmit as well. In the fall and winter, we're going to have to remember what the strain was like and be extra vigilant so this doesn't get out of control. But I don't think it's hype necessarily, I just think that there's a lot of -- and hopefully a lot of good knowledge being passed around.</s>COOPER: All right, let's hope. We're certainly not trying to contribute to unwarranted fears. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we're going to talk to you throughout this hour. Let us know what you think about the flu outbreak. Join the live chat happening now at AC360.com. You can also ask questions there for Doctors Gupta and Carlos Del Rio. Or you can do it on Twitter, where the address is Andersoncooper, one word. On Facebook we're at facebook.com/Andersoncooper360. Ask your questions there. We'll try to put them to Dr. Del Rio and Dr. Gupta throughout this hour. Coming up next, grading the president on Facebook. We've got the results after the break. Thousands of viewers weighed in. Tonight, we'll reveal the results coming up. And the most important moments from tonight's news conference with the president. In case you missed the actual news conference. We'll give you all of the best and the most important moments. And later, how would you like to be on this city bus? The driver is texting while driving. He's not texting us here at 360 either. Find out what happened to the passengers and to him tonight later on 360.