A former Shropshire woman who now lives in Mexico today spoke about the devastating effects of swine flu.

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Helen Carter, whose family live in Shrewsbury, now lives in Jalisco state and has witnessed the impact of the disease.

She said she had seen medics testing people at Miguel Hidalgo Airport, her local gym had been closed and buses were being cleaned daily with anti-bacterial spray.

She said: “They’re also doing the same thing in the state congress building.

“The mouth-cover things are still in short supply. I heard on the radio the days before yesterday one guy in a plaza walking round selling them for 10 pesos when the previous price was one peso. Someone called up a live radio station to dob him in.

“On all the highways into and out of the state are mobile testing stations. I’m not sure how they’re operating those, but it has to be on a ‘your-bad-luck-to-be-pulled over’ basis because they couldn’t possibly test all the cars going into and out of the state.”

Mrs Carter added that the normally bustling streets had become very quiet.

She said: “I went to a weekly street market today, very famous in the city, and it was very quiet, so people are staying home. There are people about though, most of us not using the masks.”

Mrs Carter said swine flu had had a disastrous impact on pork sales, which had plummeted by 80 per cent. People were also stocking up on other food supplies, in the event of future shortages.

Other places which are closed include football stadiums, casinos and nightclubs.