(WASHINGTON) — The airline with most flights from the United States to Mexico cut back travel to the center of the swine flu outbreak on Friday as the federal government confirmed more than two dozen new cases.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus was confirmed in eight more states overnight but the death toll stayed at one — the Mexican toddler who died in Texas. The agency said there were now 141 confirmed cases in the U.S., up from 109 on Thursday. The flu is now in 19 states, up from 11, according to federal figures. Separately a few states reported slightly higher numbers.

    Federal health authorities sought to reassure the public that — aside from people with flu symptoms or nonessential travel plans to Mexico — public transportation remained safe. "There's not an increased risk there," Dr. Richard Besser, acting CDC director, said Friday. "If you have the flu or flu-like symptoms, you shouldn't be getting on an airplane or you shouldn't be getting in the subway, but for the general population that's quite fine to do," he said.

    Houston-based Continental Airlines, which has over 500 flights per week between the U.S. and Mexico, became the first U.S. carrier to curtail service. Many travelers have become increasingly concerned about going to Mexico, though authorities there said new cases and the death rate was leveling off.

    Mexico has confirmed 300 swine flu cases but stopped reporting suspected infections when the number approached 2,500. There have been a dozen confirmed deaths there from the flu, although reports have indicated that roughly 120 may have died from it. "We were already experiencing soft market conditions due to the economy, and now our Mexico routes in particular have extra weakness," Continental Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Kellner said in a statement Friday.

    It wasn't immediately clear whether other airlines would follow Continental's lead. "We are hearing that there is a softening of demand to and from Mexico," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transportation Association, which represents airlines.

    Clinics and hospital emergency rooms in New York, California and some other states are seeing a surge in patients with coughs and sneezes that might have been ignored before the outbreak.

    （華盛頓）周五,隨著美國政府確認多達30個新病例之后,國泰航空大規模地削減了從美國飛往墨西哥豬流感疫情中心的班次.

    疾病防控中心說，一夜之間,該病毒已在8個以上的州得到證實，但死亡人數仍然是1人. -得克薩斯州的墨西哥兒童死于豬流感。該機構說，美國現已發現的病例是141人，而周四的人數是109人。禽流感已經從11個州發展至目前的19個州，根據聯邦的數字統計,另外幾個州的數量比報道的要多得多.

    聯邦衛生當局安撫市民說,除了感染禽流感的人或沒必要去墨西哥旅行之外,公共交通仍然是安全的。周五,疾病防控中心執行主任理查德貝瑟博士說，“公共交通還是安全的” “如果你有流感或類似流感的癥狀，你就不應該登飛機,你就不應該鉆地鐵，我們這么做是有益于大眾的.”

    總部位于休斯頓的大陸航空公司,每周往返于美國與墨西哥之間多達500個航次，成為第一個削減航運服務的公司。盡管當局表示，新的病例和死亡率保持穩定,但是,許多游客還是擔心去墨西哥旅行的危險.

    墨西哥已確認300豬流感病例，當感染人數達到2,500的時候,他們不再報告懷疑感染的人數。已得到證實死于禽流感的是12人,盡管有報道說可能有大約120人死于流感。周五,大陸董事長兼首席執行長拉里凱爾納在一份聲明中說,

     “由于經濟下滑，我們的市場已經疲軟了,現在我們的墨西哥航線，更感到虛弱難支了” .

    目前還不清楚是否還有其他的航空公司跟風。 “我們聽說來往墨西哥的航線客運量已經下降了.”代表航空公司的航空運輸協會發言人大衛卡斯特衛特說道.

    紐約州，加州和其他州的診所和醫院急癥室涌進了很多患有咳嗽和打噴嚏的患者，而這種現象很可能在疫情爆發之前被忽略了.