Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said on Monday that four new deaths from the A/H1N1flu have been confirmed, bringing the death toll to 26, with 727 total cases reported and 2,164 samples tested.

Cordova said that the disease had a comparatively low R0 number, which means it is not much more contagious than normal seasonal flu.

"Mexico has calculated the R0 at 1.4, varying between 1.3 and 1.8," Cordova said. "With seasonal influenza this index is a little lower. It is 1.3," he said.

The higher the R0 number, the faster a disease spreads. A R0 of one means that each infected person infects one other, if R0 falls below one, the disease will die out of its own accord.

"The studies which we have, based on the tests which are being confirmed and ruled out, have shown epidemiologists that the trend is lower, towards a decline in cases," said Cordova. However, he added that the government has not yet decided if it will allow schools to reopen, because of worries that this might cause a spike in transmission.

"In the case of Spanish flu, at the start of the 20th century, the second peak came around three month later, 100 days later," he said.

He added that 17 of the 26 people who died of confirmed H1N1 flu virus, or around 65 percent, were between 21 and 40, usually the group that is most resistant to diseases.

People of this age group "tend to take something to get rid of their symptoms so they can stay active because ... they are very active all the time. So they don't go to the doctor and when they do they are already at a much later stage," said Cordova.

The World Health Organization said that there are around 1,089 cases of the H1N1 flu virus world wide, spreading across 21 nations. Mexico is the worst hit, followed by the United States with 286, and then Canada with 101 cases. Only one death has occurred outside Mexico, of a Mexican child in the United States.

(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2009)