World attempts to combat flu

From Egypt's order that all 300,000 pigs in the country be slaughtered to travel bans and putting the kibosh on kissing, the world is taking drastic -- and some say debatable -- measures to combat swine flu.

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Associated Press

Pigs roam in their pens on Jeff Schmitt's farm in Holy Cross, Iowa on Wednesday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and others have suggested a new name, arguing that swine flu implies a problem with pork products.

Egypt ordered the pig slaughter even though there hasn't been a single case of swine flu there and no evidence that pigs have spread the disease. Britain, with only five cases, is trying to buy 32 million masks. And in the United States, President Obama said more of the country's 132,000 schools might have to be shuttered.

At airports from Japan to South Korea to Greece and Turkey, thermal cameras were trained on airline passengers to see whether any were feverish. And Lebanon discouraged traditional Arab peck-on-the-cheek greetings, even though no one has come down with the virus there.

All this and more, even though world health experts say many of these measures might not stop the disease from spreading. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert to the second-highest level, meaning it believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent.

"Scientifically speaking, the main thing is that every virus behaves differently," said Joerg Hacker, president of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's top public health authority. "At the moment, the main issue is to get to know this virus, how it works."

The World Health Organization said total bans on travel to Mexico -- such as one imposed by Argentina, which hasn't had any confirmed cases -- were questionable because the virus is already fairly widespread.

Nor will killing pigs, as Egypt began doing Wednesday, infuriating pig farmers who blocked streets and stoned Health Ministry workers' vehicles. While pigs are banned entirely in some Muslim countries because of religious dietary restrictions, they are raised in Egypt for consumption by the country's Christian minority.

But some anti-flu measures have merit, such as Mr. Obama's admonition Wednesday that more American schools might have to be closed temporarily. Already tens of thousands of students in Texas, New York, California, Chicago and elsewhere are out of school.

The WHO said closing schools and public places can be a way to contain the disease. Epidemiologists call it "social distancing," and the idea is simple: If you keep people who have the virus away from others, you can stop the chain of transmission.