2 Greek students catch swine flu in UK
By MARIA CHENG,AP Medical Writer
AP - Saturday, May 30

LONDON - Two Greek students caught swine flu in Scotland last week, proof that the virus is circulating more widely than European authorities admit.

The two men, students in Edinburgh, were diagnosed with swine flu when they returned to Greece last week. Neither reported any known contact with a confirmed swine flu case or any history of travel beyond Scotland in the last 15 days.

"This is definitely an indicator the virus is spreading in the community," said John Oxford, a professor of virology at St. Bart's and Royal London Hospital. "Most of the time, this virus is like an iceberg. You can only see the tip but there is a big iceberg below the surface."

The two students went to several parties last week and fell ill about the same time, meaning they probably did not infect each other. Their cases were described in an article published online Thursday in Eurosurveillance, a publication of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The researchers wrote there was a possibility that widespread transmission of swine flu exists in Edinburgh, which led to the two men being infected. The researchers added it was the first time swine flu had spread from one European country to another. Greece has four cases total.

Britain's Health Protection Agency, which is coordinating the United Kingdom's response to swine flu, denied that the virus was circulating in the general public.

"We have no evidence to suggest that the virus is spreading in the community," a spokesman said on condition of anonymity, in line with agency policy.

Britain has 215 confirmed cases of swine flu, the highest tally in Europe. On Friday, Britain reported a dozen new cases, 10 linked to a school outbreak, one tied to a previously confirmed case and another whose source of infection was unknown.

The World Health Organization reported Friday that its global tally rose to 15,510 swine flu cases in 53 countries, including 99 deaths, most of them in Mexico.

In the United States, health officials have reported 8,975 cases and 15 deaths.

At the moment, the virus appears only to be causing big outbreaks in North America. But once swine flu is proven to be spreading easily in another world region, the agency's criteria for calling a pandemic _ a global epidemic _ will be fulfilled.

WHO, however, says it is convening an expert panel to determine new criteria for announcing a global outbreak. The agency caved to pressure from member countries, including Britain, who urged the U.N. heath agency not to declare a pandemic.

Oxford said several of the confirmed British and Scottish swine flu cases have no known connection to confirmed cases or travel history. These sporadic cases _ where there is no clear chain of transmission _ are considered to be evidence a virus is widespread.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the agency was working with national authorities to see if swine flu is spreading more widely in Europe.

Some experts felt nations weren't looking very hard.

"Based on WHO's current definitions, we are in a pandemic," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota. "To say it is not entrenched in Europe is like denying that the sun rises."