Swine Flu Forces More Schools in Japan to Close

The deepening swine flu outbreak led Japan’s government to shut more than 4,000 schools and spurred the World Health Organization to urge drugmakers such as Sanofi- Aventis SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc to start preparing a vaccine.

Japan shut 4,464 schools in six prefectures, up from 4,043 the central government originally asked to close, the education ministry said by fax today. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan yesterday endorsed a panel’s recommendation that drugmakers develop batches of swine flu vaccine for testing.


Read more