Flu Virus is Less ominous

ATLANTA — The swine flu virus that has scared the world is beginning to look a little less threatening.

New York City officials reported Friday that the swine flu still has not spread beyond a few schools. In Mexico, very few relatives of flu victims were reported to have caught the virus.

One expert says there’s no reason to believe the new virus is a more serious strain than seasonal flu. And a federal official said the new flu virus doesn’t appear to have genes that made the 1918 pandemic flu strain so deadly.

It’s too soon to draw any conclusions about what this variation of the H1N1 virus will do. Experts say the only wise course is to prepare for the worst. But in a world that’s been rattled by the chance of a global pandemic, glimmers of hope are welcome.

President Obama noted Friday that it’s not clear that the swine flu outbreak will turn out to be any worse than ordinary flu.

"It may turn out that H1N1 runs its course like ordinary flus, in which case we will have prepared and we won’t need all these preparations,” the president said.

But "we’re taking it seriously,” he said. Even if the flu turns out mild now, it could come back in a deadlier form during the normal flu season, he said.

Dr. Peter Palese with New York’s Mount Sinai Medical School said the new virus appeared to be similar enough to other common flu strains that "we probably all have some type of immunity.”

"There is no real reason to believe this is a more serious strain,” he said.

by the associated press