MEXICO CITY —  Mexico’s top epidemiologist says the World Health Organization was slow to react to an outbreak of atypical pneumonia that grew into the swine flu epidemic, and wants a probe.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Miguel Angel Lezana says he is troubled by the response of the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO, and its parent organization, the WHO, in the early days of the outbreak.

You can order swine flu masks here >>>> ActiveForever

3M ™ Health Care N95 Particulate Respirator and Surgical Mask

Lezana, director of the National Epidemiology Center, says it notified PAHO on April 16 about the outbreak in Mexico, but that action wasn’t taken until eight days later, when the WHO announced the spreading epidemic..

Experts, however, are asking whether the health system in Mexico is up to dealing with the outbreak and whether an earlier response might have prevented its worldwide spread.

“Mexico does not have the kind of measures in place we have in this country,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. “This virus has been circulating since sometime in March and could involve thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.”

Reports indicate that hospitals around Mexico started seeing a rise in patients complaining of respiratory distress as early as the middle of last month.

Prepare For The Swine Flu – See Banner Below

But the WHO wasn’t made aware of the situation until a month later. Within a week people in Mexico were dying of flu-like symptoms and two children in California were diagnosed with a new strain of swine flu, believed to be the same strain circulating through Mexico.

Dr. Keiji Fukuda, an assistant director general with the WHO, defended Mexican health officials in a news conference on Sunday, pointing out that the country — which has been hard hit by the global recession and is devoting many of its resources to its war against drug cartels — was in the middle of flu season when the increase in patient load began.

Mexico’s top medical officer voiced optimism Thursday that swine flu has slowed in the nation hardest hit by the virus, but the World Health Organization cautioned there is no evidence the worst of the global outbreak is over.

View tom's Profile      Subscribe via RSS