Swine Flu: US infections slide by 130, Mexico breaches 300 - Obama lucky to avoid the disease

In other news, an aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu apparently got sick helping arrange President Obama's recent trip to Mexico. The aide did not fly on Air Force One and never posed a risk to the president, the White House said.

SHOOT: I guess when we see political leaders dropping like flies we'll know that everyone is fair game. So far things seem fairly functional, but that could change.

clipped from www.sfgate.com Mexican health authorities said Thursday that they have confirmed 300 swine flu cases, as the World Health Organization cautioned there is no evidence the worst of the global outbreak is over. The U.S. caseload rose slightly to at least 130 as hundreds of schools nationwide shut their doors, and the crisis even reached the White House, which said an aide to the secretary of energy apparently got sick helping arrange a presidential trip to Mexico. "The fact that we have a stabilization in the daily numbers, even a drop, makes us optimistic," he said. "Because what we'd expect is geometric or exponential growth. And that hasn't been the situation. So we think we're on the right track." The World Health Organization's top flu official sounded a more cautious note about whether the virus had peaked.