The only confirmed swine flu death outside Mexico was a Mexican toddler who died in a Texas hospital Monday.
The United States is buying 13 million courses of anti-flu drugs to replenish its stockpile and sending 400,000 courses to Mexico, which said earlier that it had a stockpile of 1 million courses. U.S. health officials say a swine flu vaccine could not be ready until fall at the earliest.
The Red Cross says it is readying an army of 60 million volunteers who could be deployed around the world to help slow the virus' spread.
Cordova said Mexicans with flu symptoms are now seeking medical attention quickly, and suspected swine flu cases are getting treatment even before the virus is confirmed, preventing deaths and limiting the virus' spread.
"If the treatment is given the first day, the patient is practically not contagious," Cordova said.
Cordova said outreach efforts to families of confirmed cases are turning up relatively few other cases.
Mexico shut down all but essential government services and private businesses Friday, the start of a five-day shutdown that includes a holiday weekend. Schools are also closed through Tuesday.
Mexico City's notoriously clogged avenues were clear, crime was down and the smog dropped to levels normally seen only on holidays. Mexico is using the shutdown to determine whether to extend or ease emergency measures.
Lezana told the AP that while Mexico waited for WHO to help, Mexican authorities tried to identify the outbreak and stop it. Mexican medical teams interviewed 472 people who may have come into contact with the first known swine flu fatality, a 39-year-old woman.
But only 18 of the 472, all hospital workers, were tested for swine flu. Of those 18 saliva samples, 12 failed to gather enough cells to be tested, the state epidemiologist said. And in other parts of Mexico, health workers only this week started visiting the families of victims to find out whether they contracted it as well, reported AP.
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