Viewer Swine Flu Questions Answered
HARRIS: And this just in to</s>CNN: The number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States has doubled. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me onset here. Elizabeth, this is -- this is a big development.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a big jump in one day.</s>HARRIS: Yes, it is.</s>COHEN: You go from 20 cases to 40 cases. The World Health Organization just said this in a teleconference, a press conference. And I have just personally just gotten off the phone with a federal official who has confirmed it. He said there are now 40 cases of confirmed swine flu in the United States. Now, it's interesting. Those 20 extra, they are all from one place. And that's the school in Queens in New York City where several students have been ill. Before they were talking about eight cases, now it's jumped to 28 cases. This is not - it's sort of striking to see this kind of jump. Not surprising, not terribly unexpected.</s>HARRIS: Well, you're talking about that one cluster at that school in New York.</s>COHEN: Right.</s>HARRIS: And there was always the concern that there were more young people there who had been exposed.</s>COHEN: Right, cause they were sick. So they knew they had something.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>COHEN: Right.</s>HARRIS: So not altogether surprising that we would see this spike.</s>COHEN: When you have eight kids with swine flu and you have many other who are ill, it only makes sense that, of course, many of those would also have swine flu.</s>HARRIS: And then the he concern is whether or not it spread outside of that cluster. And there's no real evidence of that at this point.</s>COHEN: Right. Not that we've seen so far, no. No.</s>HARRIS: And we're going to get an update from New York's mayor shortly. OK, Elizabeth. Appreciate it. Thank you.</s>COHEN: Thanks.</s>HARRIS: All right, if the swine flu outbreak started down in Mexico, how did it pop up 7,000 miles away in New Zealand? Phil Black traces the spread for us.</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm standing outside Rangitoto College in Auckland. Nine students and one teacher from this school have fallen ill and been diagnosed with Influenza-A after returning from a school trip to Mexico. It's suspected they are suffering from this new strain of the swine flu. At another school near here, three others have also fallen ill after returning from Mexico. The possibility that these children have come back from a school excursion with a potentially life threatening illness has spooked much of New Zealand. Pharmacies here are reporting a run on sales of things like face masks and anti-flu drugs. But the government here is urging people not to panic. It says it has procedures in place and these procedures are world class, designed back when, a few years ago, New Zealand feared it could fall victim to an epidemic of bird flu. Phil Black, CNN, Auckland.</s>HARRIS: You know, we're hearing from concerned viewers across the country about the swine flu. And joining us now live, CNN.com's iReport Desk and producer, Tyson Wheatley. And Tyson, what are you getting in terms of iReports and questions?</s>TYSON WHEATLEY, CNN.COM PRODUCER: Well, Tony and Elizabeth, we're hearing actually a lot of concern from iReporters about this. Definitely not panic, but a lot of concern and even some questions. And what I want to do today, actually, is share some of those with you.</s>HARRIS: Great, great.</s>WHEATLEY: And since we have Elizabeth, maybe we can get her to weigh in on some of these. Let's start with - let's start in Marietta, actually, with Adriana Maxwell. And she's really concerned with the swine flu spreading to a city like Atlanta. Let's go ahead and listen to her concerns.</s>ADRIANA MAXWELL, CNN IREPORTER: What are the chances of it getting here to Atlanta? Well, it's actually fairly good. I mean, we do have international airport. We have many, many, many different companies, a lot of Fortune 500 companies, that do travel to Mexico and other parts of South America. So it's not impossible for a traveler to innocently catch it abroad and bring it home to their family.</s>WHEATLEY: All right. So Elizabeth, any reason for Atlantans (ph) to be particularly concerned.</s>COHEN: You know, not Atlanta in particular. Although, I suppose this is, as we know, a very international country.</s>HARRIS: Absolutely.</s>COHEN: But you know what? There's travel between Mexico and all sorts of parts of the United States. But you know, I think a lot of what she said was pretty much on the mark. Because CDC officials have said all this weekend, look, we expect to see more cases. And here we have a doubling in one day. That's because there is so much travel between Mexico and the United States. And because it has been shown that this virus can spread from person to person, so you don't even have to have been in Mexico. So will it come to Atlanta? You know, I would be surprised in some ways if a big city like Atlanta weren't affected in some way. There could be swine flu even here now and we wouldn't know it. This disease is so mild, someone might just be at home kind of not feeling great and not actually ever go to the doctor.</s>HARRIS: Well, I will tell you, I was just telling you a moment ago, I spent the weekend in Cancun. Just a quick little get away. And it's interesting. I arrived there Friday evening and no one in the airport was wearing masks. And look, at that point the story was still developing, very much developing. I go through the weekend and the story clearly takes on a massive size at that point. I'm flying back last night, and still no masks in the airport. So it's just interesting to see that particular perspective. The story has certainly changed and I would imagine that more precautions are being taken and more folks are really concerned about it now in Cancun and other spots. And just a side note. Tyson, I know you have another question here?</s>WHEATLEY: Yes, you know, we're hearing also from Luke Jopesh Tagge. He's from Diamond Bar, California. Luke, he's a former Marine and he's a Latino-American. He says he's very concerned with security along the U.S.-Mexico border. Let's hear what he has to say.</s>LUKE JOPESH TAGGE, CNN IREPORTER: We have the largest population of illegal immigrants who come here daily. I have been in the ER many a time for a sprained ankle or a fractured rib and have seen people come in, not speaking any English, nothing. And they have either the flu or the sniffles. Now how are we to determine whether these people who come and go, weekend to weekend, do not come and go again and bring this time the swine flu?</s>WHEATLEY: All right. So, what do you think? Securing the border, is it warranted? Is it even possible?</s>COHEN: You know, goodness, I think it would be incredibly difficult to secure the U.S./Mexican border. I mean, gosh. Look how many people cross there by foot, by car, by bus, by plane.</s>HARRIS: By plane.</s>COHEN: I mean, it's so - that would be so difficult to do. And I think that the government would, I'm guessing, would only try to do that if there were a huge public health crisis. And I want to emphasize that we're talking -- well, we were talking about 20 cases, now we're talking about 40, but as far as we know, still mild illness. People are not dropping dead from this in the United States. People are actually recovering without even having to go to the hospital. They're recovering without even taking antivirals. So closing down the border for something like that would be - I can't even imagine them doing that. And you know, but the iReporter asked the question, gee, people come in from the border and they come to the hospital and they're not feeling well. Well, they'd be handled like anybody else. If you show up with signs of the flu and you've been in Mexico, they're going to take a swab and they're going to send it to health authorities to see if it's swine flu or not.</s>HARRIS: And Tyson, I know you have one more question.</s>WHEATLEY: Yes, one more. This is actually a question from William King of San Antonio, Texas. And let's go ahead and hear his concern.</s>WILLIAM KING, CNN IREPORTER: Hi. I was wondering if this swine flu outbreak is the same strain that was out in the 1970s and that if the vaccine you received in the military would be the same one or similar to the one that would be used for the outbreak today?</s>WHEATLEY: All right, Elizabeth. I wasn't even aware that there was a previous swine flu outbreak. Any connection?</s>HARRIS: He's so young.</s>COHEN: That's because you're so young, Tyson.</s>HARRIS: He's such a baby.</s>COHEN: I was aware of it. I remember it distinctly.</s>HARRIS: Yes. Hello?</s>COHEN: So that's just because - that's just because you're 12 years old.</s>COHEN: The rest of us do remember it. And I've received this question that this gentleman asked from other people as well. And the answer, according to folks I've been talking to is that, no. That vaccine people got back in 1976, that is not going to help them now. One, because it was so long ago. And two, because it was most likely a completely different strain. Not going to do you any good.</s>HARRIS: And to just sort of button up my personal story, you know, once the story started to really develop and took a life of its own, you know, I guess that concession I made was a concession a lot of people were making. You just wash your hands more. You're just very careful about your contact. I would go get my food, come back to my room. And that was - I just limited the contact just on the safe side, to be on the safe side.</s>COHEN: Right. Our Sanjay Gupta, whose in Mexico right now, is talking about that. That it sounds so low tech, but really, that's what you've got to do.</s>HARRIS: Yes, yes.</s>COHEN: Keep washing your hands. If there was a flu virus on this table that we're sitting at and I got it on my fingers, you need to wash your hands.</s>HARRIS: So, wipe off the keyboard, wipe off the phone, and wash your hands.</s>COHEN: Right. If you're going to go to an ATM in Mexico City, I would recommend washing your hands afterward.</s>HARRIS: Awesome. Great information, as always. Thank you, Elizabeth.</s>COHEN: OK, thanks.</s>HARRIS: Tyson, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.</s>WHEATLEY: All right. Hey, thank you. Thanks for the answers.</s>HARRIS: Yes, great questions. Health leaders around the globe are issuing some travel warnings due to swine flu. We are bringing you the information right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.