ATLANTA — The swine flu virus that has frightened the world is
beginning to look a little less ominous. New York City officials
reported Friday that the swine flu still has not spread beyond a
few schools. In Mexico, very few relatives of flu victims seem
to have caught the virus. One flu expert says there's no reason
to believe the new virus is a more serious strain than seasonal
flu. And a U.S. federal health official said the new flu virus
doesn't appear to have genes that made the 1918 pandemic flu
strain so deadly. An official with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said the new swine flu virus lacks the
genetic traits that made the 1918 pandemic strain so deadly. CDC
flu chief Nancy Cox said the good news is "we do not see the
markers for virulence that were seen in the 1918 virus." Nor
does swine flu virus have the virulence traits found in the H5N1
strain of bird flu seen in recent years in Asia and other parts
of the world, she said. It's too soon to draw any definitive
conclusions about