Possible link between the severe respiratory illness outbreak in Mexico and swine influenza in southwestern United States?

Reminiscent of the Severe Acquired Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak during the spring and fall of 2003, an outbreak of Severe Respiratory Illness (SRI) in Mexico has world health officials in a state of concern. The concern centers on the fact that as of April 24, 2009 over 134 cases have been reported in Mexico with an accompanying high mortality rate in healthy young adults. With new information surfacing from public health investigations of recent cases of swine influenza in the United States, here we discuss putative links between the outbreak of SRI in Mexico and the emergence of a novel swine influenza A (H1N1) strain in several southwestern U.S. states.