As the number of U.S. swine-flu cases surpassed 100, reaching 15 states, health officials stressed Thursday that people with flu-like symptoms should avoid public transportation but said everyone else only needs to follow common precautions. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and officials in several states have confirmed at least 116 cases. The Obama administration remained firm in its opposition to closing the U.S.-Mexico border, with Vice President Joseph Biden calling it “a monumental undertaking” that would do little good. With the virus already in several states, closing the border now would be useless, authorities said. They noted that virtually all cases seen in the United States had been mild, with most victims not needing medical attention, and stressed that the most important message was to try not to spread infection. “This is a time when we don't want the worried … flooding the emergency rooms,” Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC told a congressional hearing. “At no time in our nation's history have we been more prepared to face this kind of challenge.” CDC acting director Richard Besser said the United States has enough anti-viral drugs to fight the spreading outbreak. He said federal supplies of drugs and medical supplies had now reached nine states, and all affected states would receive medication by May 3. “There are no reports, and we don't expect any reports, of shortages of any anti-virals in any states,” Besser told reporters. A U.S. laboratory has been established in Mexico—where the H1N1 strain of swine influenza originated—to let scientists quickly diagnose cases of the virus, Besser said. “We now have a lab up and running in Mexico which is able to do diagnosis and confirmation of the H1N1 virus,” he said. “This is a really big step. It's going to help us with the studies there, because we'll really be able to confirm cases and then look at risk factors for those cases, [and] how they're treated,” Besser said. “It's going to be very helpful in terms of speeding up the course of those studies.”
