US A/H1N1 flu cases hit 1,639

Special Report:World tackles A/H1N1 flu

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the country has 1,639 cases of the A/H1N1 flu in 43 states. So far, there have been two deaths.

RichardBesser,actingdirectoroftheCentersforDisease
ControlandPrevention,speaksasNewYorkMayorMichael
Bloomberglooksonatleft,inAtlantaWednesday,May6,
2009.(APPhoto/JohnBazemore)

The number of confirmed cases now surpasses Mexico, which has reported 1,319 cases, including 45 deaths.

Acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser says only about 10 percent of the people who caught the virus have been to Mexico.

This suggests the virus is still passing very easily from one person to another. US officials expect the virus to spread to all 50 states and to cause many infections, ranging from mild to severe.

US President Barack Obama told Hispanic community leaders the A/H1N1 flu virus apparently was not as virulent as feared, but they are not completely out of the woods yet and still need precautions.

Flu cases continue to grow worldwide, WHO keeps alert

Special Report:World tackles A/H1N1 flu

BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases continued to rise worldwide, especially in the United States, while the World Health Organization (WHO) has left its alert level unchanged.

According to the latest figures, over 3,000 cases have now been confirmed in 27 countries around the world.

The confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases in the United States rose sharply on Friday to 1,639 in 43 of its 50 states, including two deaths, overtaking Mexico as the country having the most confirmed cases in the world.

The update registered a sharp increase from the case count on Thursday when confirmed cases were 896, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, the jump "does not reflect a speed-up of the epidemic," said Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the CDC. The number of cases may jump quickly day to day as a backlog of likely cases need to be confirmed through extra testing, he said.

About 3.5 percent of the cases have been sick enough to be admitted to hospitals and health officials say the rate will continue to fall as more screening is done in the community.

U.S. President Barack Obama Friday urged Americans to take persistent precaution on the A/H1N1 flu, even though he said the virus was not as virulent as people first feared.

Iran asks U.S. not interfere with U.S.-Iranian reporters case

TEHRAN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi asked the United States and the Europeans not to interfere with the U.S.-Iranian reporter's case, local Press TV reported Monday.

The case of reporter Roxana Saberi is a strictly domestic matter, other countries should end hyping the issue, Qashqavi was quoted as saying.

Saberi is of Iranian nationality and will therefore be treated according to Iranian laws, he told the weekly press briefing in Tehran.

Saberi, 31, was arrested in the second half of January 2009 on charges of espionage for the United States.

Last week, Saberi's lawyer said Iran's revolutionary court sentenced Saberi eight years in jail for espionage and he had made an appeal against the verdict.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Iranians for a re-examination of the spy case against the Iranian-American journalist, saying that We hope the actions will be taken as soon as possible by the authorities in Iran...to bring about the speedy release of Ms. Saberi and her return home (to the United States).

On Monday, Iran's daily Tehran Times reported that Roxana Saberi in Tehran has reportedly gone on a hunger strike.

Iran's judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi has expressed hope that her sentence would be reconsidered in the appeals court.