The number of cases of Mexican flu in the Netherlands has increased in the past two weeks. Professor of virology Ab Osterhaus has told Radio Netherlands Worldwide that up to now mainly school children have been infected by the influenza A (H1N1) virus. As a result many children have had to stay at home.

According the professor the flu is, as expected, much earlier than the winter variant, which usually hits in October or November. However, the number of cases has not reached epidemic levels. At the moment only four or five people in every 10,000 have the disease. An epidemic is when six out of 10,000 are infected.

Ab Osterhaus is professor of virology at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. He is interviewed every fortnight by Radio Netherlands Worldwide on the progress of the Mexican flu epidemic.