More than 90 cases of the disease have now been reported throughout the United States, and the first U.S. death attributed to swine flu was reported. Of course, Mexico is where the disease started — or so it seems — and where it continues to do the most harm. At least 150 people there have died from the disease. 

Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the origin of the flu. She also discusses various government responses to the flu, including discouraging public gatherings in Mexico, slaughtering pigs in Egypt and shutting down pig farms in Jordan.

The number of people thought to have died from the disease reached 152 — all of them in Mexico, where the outbreak began.

Beyond Mexico, the United States and five other countries were dealing with confirmed cases of the flu. The United States is now reporting at least 68 confirmed cases; Canada is reporting six, and a few cases are confirmed in the United Kingdom, Spain, Israel and New Zealand. Suspected cases have been reported all the way from South America to Asia.

Many more countries were taking steps they hope will keep it away, tightening borders and immigration controls as the swine flu epidemic spread. Cuba suspended flights to Mexico, and countries including the United States, Canada and France warned their citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan all said they would quarantine any ailing visitors who come from countries where the disease has been discovered.

Martin Blaser, a former president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the current chairman of the Department of Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, joins Martin Savidge to discuss how governments are responding to the outbreak and how widespread this strain of flu is.

View a map detailing the spread of the swine flu:

The World Health Organization has said the deadly flu has “pandemic potential.” Governments the world over are racing to find and contain pockets of swine flu. The European Union is advising against unnecessary travel to the U.S. and Mexico.

Dr. Andrew Garrett, the director of planning and response at Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness and the Mailman School of Public Health, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the threat posed by swine flu, how the disease spread from Mexico and how long it might be before it is brought under control.

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Daniel Hernandez, a writer based in Mexico City, describes the atmosphere in the city, noting that many are wary of the government: 

The metro is still operating but with hardly its normal level of weekend traffic. Public gathering spaces are closed or nearly empty — that includes art openings (most of them), museums, movie theaters, and soccer matches. Unbelievably, schools will be closed until “at least” May 6, the health secretary has announced, raising the fear factor considerably.

That’s at least 10 total weekdays of no classes for more than 6 million students at all levels. To put things in perspective, the last time classes were shuttered for days on end was during the apocalyptic Mexico City earthquake of 1985.

[...]On Saturday, while the top brass at the WHO convened an emergency meeting in Geneva, soldiers in Mexico City were passing out face-masks at traffic stops, metro stations, and plazas. A militar in fatigues handed me a mask upon entering metro Bellas Artes, but it fell apart before I could even get on a train. On board, passengers eyed one another suspiciously and made every effort to avoid contact with strangers.

Now, this is the sort of atmosphere some of us have most feared, health worries aside: An already heavy-handed federal government in Mexico issued an ominous decree on Saturday, saying it reserves the right to hold and quarantine anyone, enter and search any public or private establishment, and more or less do whatever it deems necessary to stop the virus from spreading.

Which makes you wonder if this is really Mexico’s “worst nightmare.”

Deborah Bonello in Mexico points out that there are economic costs to the outbreak: 

I was out shooting all day in downtown Mexico City Sunday, trying to get a sense of how the swine flu outbreak is affecting local businesses.

It’s bad. With schools closed, as well as cinemas, theaters and museums, sales for some vendors have dropped by as much as 70%. And it doesn’t look like things are going to get better anytime soon. The usual Monday morning traffic crawl was nowhere to be seen this morning, and I arrived at my office door to door in less than 20 minutes.

About half the people walking around on the streets are using masks, around half are risking it.

Blogger “mattliving” in Canada — where there are at least six confirmed cases of swine flu — criticizes the government response to the outbreak: 

Why are governments around the world waiting for this to get out of hand?

I personally know of persons in my workplace here in Canada that have recently returned from Mexico. Why haven’t governments contacted everyone who may have traveled in or out of Mexico in the last few weeks and get them tested.

Isn’t this scenario one of the biggest excuses from governments for tracking of travellers, RFID passports, etc.?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Eneas under a Creative Commons license.

The controversial move to legalize abortion has been challenged in the Supreme Court and upheld. Ninety percent of Mexico’s population is Catholic.

Martin Savidge travels to populous Mexico City, where the abortion debate rages on.

Below, bloggers in Mexico and elsewhere voice their support or opposition to the city’s legalization of abortion — a rarity in Latin American countries.

Reverend Thomas Euteneuer of Human Life International writes about his organization’s trip to Mexico, where they prayed in front of an abortion clinic. He calls Mexico City’s law “cruel and inhumane.”

The “Guanabee” blog argues that abortion is much more than a religious issue, writing that it also involves class, gender politics and culture issues.

“The Unapologetic Mexican” blog writes that media coverage of the legalization was biased and virtually ignored women’s voices, but calls the new law “a good start.”

The “South Chicagoan” blog writes that Mexico City’s decision to provide free Viagra to elderly men reflects gender bias when it comes to sexuality, since it is still so difficult to get an abortion.

The “Ciudad de Mexico” blog (in Spanish) wonders why Mexico City’s legislators did not engage in public debate on the issue prior to the legalization. (See Google’s English translation of the entry)

Blogger “Jo Tuckman” writes that it is amazing how far Mexico has come in such a short period of time.

For more on the abortion debate in Latin American countries, see what a Worldfocus contributing blogger had to say about the Urguayan president’s veto of a bill that would have legalized abortion in that country.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user emilyjmc06 under a Creative Commons license.