By JULIE WATSON and DAVID KOOP
Associated Press Writers, From Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's emergence from a national shutdown hit snags as some high schools were not cleaned in time to open and students returned to class in others without swine flu checkups. Cases of the virus popped up in two more Latin America countries.

Despite the hitches, Mexico pressed ahead with its return to normal life as workers disinfected day care centers and kindergartens in preparation for their reopening on Monday. Authorities were to pass out antiseptic hand gel to all of the capital's 5,000 schools on Friday.

Finance Secretary Agustin Carstens announced that Mexico's economy is in a recession and could contract by 4.1 percent this year because of the swine flu and a decline in exports to the U.S.

"It is a fact that we are in recession," Carstens told foreign correspondents - marking the first time the government has acknowledged Mexico is already in a recession.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said America's two swine flu deaths - a toddler and a pregnant woman who both died in Texas- each suffered from several other illnesses when they were infected with the virus.

The CDC report released by the New England Journal of Medicine said the Mexican toddler had a chronic muscle weakness called myasthenia gravis, a heart defect, a swallowing problem and lack of oxygen. The 33-year-old woman had asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, a skin condition called psoriasis and was 35 weeks pregnant.

In Geneva, the World Health Organization said based on past outbreaks, it is possible that a third of the world's population, or about 2 billion people, could become infected if this outbreak turns into a two-year pandemic. Independent experts agreed that the estimate was possible but pointed out that many would not show any symptoms.

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