Health officials fear a Cornwall man who vacationed in Mexico may have picked up a mystery illness that has killed 60 people and made hundreds of others sick.
Still, doctors say they can't yet link the man's illness to the Mexico outbreak.
The World Health Organization is now voicing concern over more than 800 severe "influenza-like" illnesses in Mexico that have caused 60 deaths, while Canada remains on high alert for suspected cases brought back here by Canadian travellers.
The United Nations agency says it has activated its Strategic Health Operations Centre -- its command and control centre for acute public health events, because of the sudden spike in flu illnesses in Mexico.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said Mexican authorities had noticed unusual flu activity in March and April, a period when the flu season of the country of 105 million should have drawn to a close.
"To date, there have been some 800 suspected cases with flu-like illness, with 57 deaths in the Mexico City area," she told a news briefing Friday.
"Similar cases have since been found in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. The number of suspected cases is 24 suspected cases and three deaths."
At Mexico's request, Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is testing more than 50 samples from infected Mexican residents to try to pinpoint the virus and better identify why the bug is causing such severe illness.
Canadian health officials have issued an advisory to health authorities to be on the lookout for travellers who have recently returned from Mexico and develop flu-like symptoms.
Any Canadian who has returned from Mexico within the last two weeks and is suffering the following symptoms should contact a physician:
- fever
- cough
- sore throat
- eye pain
- shortness of breath
- muscle and joint pain
- extreme fatigue
Although Canadian health officials are on high alert, there have been no confirmed cases of the disease in Canada.
