MEXICO CITY, May 5 (UPI) -- Countermeasures some countries use to mitigate the outbreak of H1N1 flu prompted Mexican officials to say their citizens are typecast as virus-carriers.
Officials consider Mexico the epicenter for the H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak that has spread to at least 20 countries. Scientists haven't pinpointed the origin of the virus, but the earliest cases were found in the southwestern United States and Mexico, The New York Times reported.
However, the United States Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said the H1N1 strain has genes from flu viruses normally found in pigs in Europe and Asia, as well as avian and human genes.
Chinese authorities during the weekend confined dozens of seemingly healthy Mexicans, saying they were trying to isolate passengers on a flight with at least one infected passenger. The Mexican government accused China of unfairly quarantining its citizens without regard to accepted public health practices, and sent a plane to pick them up.
Mexican diplomats were also angered when four Latin American nations suspended flights from Mexico.
In sports, Chilean officials turned down a request to host two Mexican soccer teams' championship games, but later apologized, Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized countries he said were "acting out of ignorance and disinformation" and taking "repressive, discriminatory measures."
Some U.S. epidemiologists agreed with Calderon's assessment, the Times reported.
Dr. Tim Jones, Tennessee's state epidemiologist, said China's actions were understandable given its experiences with other flu outbreaks. But just as the United States will soon ease its mitigation measures, he said he hoped that Chinese officials "would ease up, too."
Pigs were destroyed in Egypt, even though world health officials said the flu cannot be transmitted to humans by eating pork, CNN reported.
