Mexico to host swine flu summit in Cancun

Mexico will next month host an international summit on swine flu at the Caribbean beach resort of Cancun, the country's health minister said.

Mexico will next month host an international summit on swine flu at the Caribbean beach resort of Cancun, the country's health minister said.

Representatives from 40 countries and the directors general of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organisation will take part in the summit from July 1 to 3, Jose Angel Cordova said in a statement yesterday.

Less than two months after the A(H1N1) virus first emerged, Cordova said the epidemic was now under control. A few isolated cases have emerged this month, the last reported on June 3 and the last death on May 31, raising the number of fatalities in Mexico to 106. The health minister said he may be able to remove a flu alert here later this month.

Swine flu has now spread to 73 countries with 25,288 people known to have been infected and 139 people killed, according to the latest WHO tally.

It was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States in April. Cordova said Mexico was working on a project to create a swine flu vaccine, which could be ready in three months. He was speaking after a meeting Japanese deputy foreign minister Shintaro Ito. The two discussed strategies to combat the virus.

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