Hong Kong hotel guests freed from flu quarantine

Waving and cheering like survivors of a disaster, 200 guests of a Hong Kong business hotel who were confined for more than a week due to swine flu left the building Friday. Businessmen, families and tourists marched out of the Hong Kong Metropark Hotel in the Wanchai bar district at 8:30 p.m.

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2 U.S. swine flu dead had other health problems, officials say

Both people who died of swine flu in the United States had pre-existing health problems, federal health authorities said Thursday in a report. The 22-month-old child who died April 27 of the flu, also called H1N1, had neonatal myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease, said the report, which was written by a virus investigation team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. The child — who was from Mexico and who fell ill while visiting relatives in Texas — also had a heart defect, problems swallowing and chronic hypoxia, the report said

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Mexico City businesses reopen, but international fears persist

All businesses in Mexico City can reopen Thursday after almost a week of closures due to concerns over swine flu, said Mexico City Press Office spokesman Salvador MacĂ­as. The Mexican government closed all nonessential government offices and businesses Friday as the number of confirmed cases of the virus known as H1N1 began to climb. Mexico has borne the brunt of the flu, with 942 confirmed cases, including 29 deaths, according to the World Health Organization

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U.N. wary of second wave of swine flu

A shutdown of public venues in Mexico City is likely to be lifted by Wednesday, despite caution by U.N. health officials that a second wave of the swine flu virus could "strike with a vengeance." By early Monday, the number of cases worldwide stood at 985, with 26 deaths. Twenty-five deaths were reported in Mexico — the epicenter of the outbreak with 590 cases.

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Confirmed cases of H1N1 virus approach 900

The World Health Organization cautioned that the swine flu outbreak could gain momentum in the months ahead, despite claims by the health secretary of Mexico — the epicenter of the outbreak — that the virus "is in its declining phase." The outbreak is only about 10 days old, and even if the illness is declining, it could return, said Gregory Hartl, the WHO spokesman for epidemic and pandemic diseases, at a briefing Sunday. “I …

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