A Timeline of Events in the Swine Flu Outbreak
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
— December 2005 to January 2009: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention receives reports of 12 cases of human infection with swine flu. Five of these 12 cases occurred in patients who had direct exposure to pigs and six reported being near pigs. Exposure in one case is unknown.
— March 28: Believed to be the date of the earliest onset of the swine flu cases in the U.S., Dr. Nancy Cox of the CDC said in an April 23 press briefing.
— April 2: A 4-year-old boy contracted the virus before this date in Veracruz state, Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova later said citing test results. A community in Veracruz has been protesting pollution from a large pig farm.
— April 6: Local health officials declare a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in the Mexican town of La Gloria in Veracruz state. Health officials record 400 cases of people who sought medical treatment in the previous week in the town. About 60 percent of the town of 3,000 are affected.
— April 17: CDC determines that two children in adjacent counties in southern California had illnesses caused by infection with swine flu. Both children became sick in late March.
— April 22: CDC confirms three additional cases of swine flu in California and two in Texas, near San Antonio.
— April 22: The Oaxaca Health Department indicates that 16 employees at the Hospital Civil Aurelio Valdivieso have contracted respiratory disease.
— April 24: Mexico’s Minister of Health confirms 20 deaths from swine flu, but 40 other fatalities were being probed and at least 943 nationwide were sick from the suspected flu. Mexico City shuts down schools, museums, libraries, and state-run theaters across the capital.
— April 26: The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. climbs to 20 in five states. Mexico reports suspect clinical cases have been reported in 19 of the country’s 32 states. Canada confirms six cases.
— April 27: The World Health Organization raises its pandemic alert status to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country.
Cordova said 1,995 people have been hospitalized with serious cases of pneumonia since mid-April and about half of those have been released. The government does not yet know how many were swine flu. The CDC reports the suspected death toll in Mexico has climbed to 149.
The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. climbs to at least 42 in five states.
Spain reports its first confirmed swine flu case.
April 28: The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. is up to 68 and more than a dozen suspected cases, including two probable cases in South Carolina and a confirmed case in Indiana.
There is a suspected case in Orlando, Fla., but the CDC has yet to confirm it.
The number of worldwide cases reportedly climbed to 93, including two confirmed cases in Israel and a second case in Spain.
Meanwhile, the WHO says U.S. swine flu patients may have transmitted the virus to others in the United States, indicating that the new strain is spreading beyond travelers returning from Mexico.
Mexico’s capital orders restaurants to serve only take-out food in the widening swine flu shutdown.
World stock markets fall as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.
Cuba suspends flights to and from Mexico for a 48-hour time period as a precautionary measure.
Carnival Cruise Lines announced it canceled Mexico stops for three ships scheduled to visit the country Tuesday. It hasn’t yet announced a decision on future stops there.
Swine flu has been ruled out as the cause of one of two recent deaths being investigated by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said Tuesday that swine flu was not found in a La Mirada man. Winter says lab testing is pending in the case of a Long Beach man but swine flu is now not suspected.
— April 29: A 23-month-old boy from Mexico died at a Houston, Texas hospital Monday night from a variant of H1N1 swine flu.
Probable swine flu cases are being reported in Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota.
Germany, which confirmed three cases, is the latest country affected.
In Cairo, the Egyptian government says it will slaughter all pigs in the country because of swine flu.
A Massachusetts health official says two siblings in that state have tested positive for swine flu after traveling to Mexico.
There is a total of 91 confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S., inlcuding Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Indiana.
South Carolina health officials have identified eight additional ‘probable’ cases of swine flu, bringing the total number to 10.
