In the Southern Hemisphere, which experiences winter during the Northern Hemisphere's summer, the swine flu virus caused a more intense and somewhat earlier flu season in some places. In Argentina, which was hit particularly hard, school breaks were extended and the economy suffered as people avoided restaurants and clubs and other public places. 'There was panic and I felt it too,' said Cristina Malaga, a maid in Buenos Aires who stayed home for a week out of fear in July. 'I was scared. It is three buses to get to work and there were many people on those buses who are coughing.' At the Gutierrez Children's Hospital, officials set up a trailer with specially outfitted examination rooms to help deal with the influx of sick people. 'The system did not collapse, because we prepared special units for outpatients and for inpatients,' said Eduardo Lopez, who heads the hospital's medical department. Paula Morey, a housewife who lives in an affluent neighborhood in Buenos Aires, said she and friends stopped sharing the national tea, which is served in a communal gourd. Now, Morey said, they bring their own gourd. Morey also began cleaning her 4-year-old daughter's hands constantly and carrying a tube of disinfectant to dab on the moment she touches anything like a door knob. 'She had to learn to take care of herself,' Morey said. The appearance of the virus in countries such as South Africa and India is raising concern the pandemic could be devastating if it begins to sicken large numbers of people in places with fewer resources. 'These are countries with vulnerable populations and fragile health care systems,' said Nikki Shindo, acting head of the World Health Organization's influenza program. Indian doctors and health officials were scrambling last week to prepare for a sharp increase in cases. Despite well-run clinics for the wealthy, many of India's government health services are overcrowded, understaffed, chaotic and antiquated. 'If we start investigating every case of H1N1 virus, I think the government facility will not be able to cope with the rush,' said Dharam Prakash, the Indian Medical Association's secretary general. In Kenya, white-coated health workers have been passing out questionnaires at the Nairobi airport and posting glossy posters about the virus on the walls of downtown cafes. False alarms about the virus have spawned a sense of panic in some places. When a health clinic in a Nairobi mall recently suspected a patient of being infected, word leaked out and soon shoppers were sending out text messages across the city warning people to stay away. The clinic was shut down for a day. In Britain, chief medical officer Liam Donaldson said there were several possible explanations for that country's recent increase in cases, including London's role as an international transport hub. In an effort to relieve intense pressure on doctors, the government recently launched the National Pandemic Flu Service, a phone and Internet hotline that allows patients to diagnose themselves and prescribe their own drugs. 'It's changing the way people are responding,' said Alan Hay, who directs the WHO's World Influenza Centre in London. Correspondents Juan Forero, Karla Adam, Emily Wax Stephanie McCrummen and Cheryl W. Thompson contributed to this report. 