Mexico on Alert Over H1N1 Influenza: 2,994 Cases and 314 Deaths Registered

Mexico health authorities are on alert due to the recent spike in the number of cases and deaths caused by the H1N1 influenza virus this year.

According to the most recent report from Mexico's Ministry of Health, up to Feb. 1, 2014, 2,994 cases of influenza have been registered in the country, and 314 people lost their lives to the virus.

According to CNN México, at least 2,554 of the total number of cases was caused by A(H1N1), a virus that in 2009 killed 19,000 people around the world.

Furthermore, 144 cases were caused by A(H3N2), 47 by B(H3N2) and 259 due to other types, reported the Ministry of Health in a press release for the media.

The Ministry detailed that of the 314 deaths related to the influenza virus in 27 states of the Mexican Republic, 290 have been caused A(H1N1), one by A(H3N2), another by B(H3N2) and 22 by other types of influenza.

Despite the rise of influenza cases registered in this year so far, Mexico's Ministry of Health said on Monday that these figures are well below those registered during the A(H1N1) pandemic of 2009, when the A(H1N1) strain of the influenza virus killed 1,479 people and infected over 70,000 in Mexico.

According to EFE, quoted by Fox News, the report released by the Ministry of Health explained that during the first week of January, 72 deaths were reported related to influenza, a figure that rose to 200 in the second week.

The third week added 56 more deaths, while the fourth reported 51 more, and finally, during the fifth week of this year, 7 more deaths were registered, which totals 314 deaths caused by influenza in Mexico.

In 2009, Mexico was ground zero for the appearance of A(H1N1) influenza, a pandemic that killed around 19,000 people around the world.