The world must learn to live with the new flu virus that apparently began in Mexico and quickly spread to many other parts of the globe, a leading health expert said on Thursday.

"I think it is important to promote health and science education," Dr. Esther Orozco, who heads Mexico City's Science and Technology Institute, said during an interview with Xinhua. "We are going to have a permanent influenza threat and we have to be ready."

The public's awareness of how to keep the new A/H1N1 virus from spreading is essential, she said.

The Mexican government on Wednesday called for non-essential services to shut down for five days beginning on Friday to help slow the flu outbreak.

Mexico City already has closed bars, cinemas, museums, libraries, sports centers and swimming pools in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.

"The city has taken the problem very seriously," Orozco said, noting that Mexico City is on high alert and authorities are providing residents with relevant health information.

Orozco urged the public to remain vigilant against the flu threat, saying "epidemics are cyclical."

We should be on alert "because the next cycle is on its way," she said.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday raised the pandemic alert to Phase 5, the second highest threat level, which means a virus has spread into at least two countries and is causing large outbreaks.

It's "a painful decision but necessary because the disease is now spreading across several nations," Orozco said.

Orozco said she has proposed the establishment of an epidemiological vigilance center in Mexico City, Mexico's largest city and one of the most populous in the world.

An interdisciplinary group of virologists, molecular biologists, immunologists and other researchers from the state-owned National Autonomous University of Mexico and the National Respiratory Illnesses Institute is already at work.