Pandemic swine flu spreads easily, cases reach 30000, 18000 in US; New Orleans mayor out of quarantine in China

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US swine flu cases grow to nearly 18,000

ATLANTA (AP) - Nearly 5,000 new U.S. swine flu cases have been reported in the last week, due partly to its continuing spread in the Northeast. The number of deaths rose from 27 to 45. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which released new figures Friday. There are nearly 18,000 probable and confirmed cases now, found in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The pandemic seems to be waning in many parts of the country. However, cases continue to spread in New England, New York and New Jersey.

Swine flu cases near 30,000 worldwide

The number of swine flu cases is closer to reaching 30,000, the World Health Organization reported on June 11th, a day after declaring the start of a global pandemic.

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin out of swine flu quarantine in China

"It's pretty surreal," Nagin told The Associated Press Wednesday night, speaking from Australia hours after he, his wife, Seletha, and a security guard were released from the hotel they were taken to Sunday after a passenger on their flight from the U.S. exhibited flu-like symptoms.

"To be quarantined in China is just mind-boggling to me." The ordeal began Friday with coach seats on a 14-hour flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Shanghai. After meeting with government officials and a manufacturing company the city is courting, Nagin said he got a knock on his hotel room door from a "quarantine specialist" and others traveling with him, saying he had to go; a passenger in the row ahead of him had flu-like symptoms. He needed to be quarantined.

Nagin said he was taken by ambulance to an isolated and quiet hotel. "When you see people coming toward you with full hazmat (hazardous materials) gear on, it's pretty interesting," he said. He described the people he dealt with as professional and nice, "but for the most part, you knew you really didn't have an option."

Someone would come to the room he and his wife shared every three to four hours to take their temperature. There weren't many options for filling their hours — there was only one English-language TV station, for example, But he kept up with city business, including, he said, closing a deal to buy a downtown high-rise that could become the new City Hall. He also read a lot, he and his wife talked a lot, and, if there was an upside, he said he probably slept the most he has during his seven years in office.

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Photos courtesy of The National Archives, AP Photo/EyePress, Rycroft/AP, Seattle Times Company / McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, majimbokenya.com, reflector.com, and Alistair Bell / Reuters

Original Source: AP, CNN, and NY Daily News