Britain Facing Swine Flu Upsurge

Britain has admitted it could face more than 100,000 daily cases of swine flu and the United States on Friday convened a meeting of top officials as governments around the world grappled with a resurgent swine flu pandemic.

Enlarge photo Britain now has nearly 7,500 cases of swine flu Enlarge photo Nearly a tenth of the global number of those infected are in the UK Enlarge photo The warning from Health Secretary Andy Burnham came as Japan said it had detected the second case worldwide of a patient resistant to the anti-viral Tamiflu, widely used to treat the illness.

Burnham told parliament that by the end of August, there could be as much as 100,000 new cases a day if the current infection rate is maintained. Britain, which now has nearly 7,500 cases, is the worst-hit country in Europe.

Health officials admit they have given up trying to contain the outbreak and instead are focusing on people who are most susceptible, such as the obese or those with asthma or breathing problems.

"Cases are doubling every week, and on this trend we could see over 100,000 cases a day by the end of August, but I stress this is only a projection," Burnham told the House of Commons on Thursday.

There are hundreds of new cases being confirmed every day. So far, three people here have died from the virus.

The latest World Health Organisation figures, released on Wednesday, showed 77,201 people had been infected by swine flu, and 332 had been killed by it.

In Washington, the White House said it would hold a high-level meeting next week bringing together top government officials to prepare for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of A(H1N1) influenza.

here have been roughly 28,000 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States and 127 people are reported to have died, the CDC said.

In Japan, the health ministry said doctors in Osaka prefecture had identified a woman who was resistant to Tamiflu -- the second such case in a week, after one found in Denmark.

The Japanese woman had since been treated with another medication, Relenza, and was recovering, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday, citing the health ministry.

A spokeswoman for Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche, which makes Tamiflu, called the case "absolutely normal" and added that "0.4 percent of adults develop resistance" to Tamiflu.