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Abelardo Vargas returned two weeks ago from visiting his family in Mexico.

As President Barack Obama’s plane touched down in Mexico two weeks ago, Abelardo Vargas was getting into Mexico City on a bus, en route to a flight back to the United States.

The St. Joseph man was homeward bound.

Drug violence, not a deadly virus, was on his native country’s collective conscience. Now, through media reports, he sees the world turn its collective eye on Mexico — some even with contempt.

“It’s scary, a little bit,” said Mr. Vargas, who was visiting his ailing mother in Mexico after five years of not seeing her. “The news — they recommend for people not to go to Mexico right now, but if I need to go, I go ... and take a flu shot as a precaution.”

It is people like Mr. Vargas, now back in St. Joseph, who are of special focus to health officials trying to detect local cases of influenza. There were 64 confirmed swine flu cases Tuesday, spread across five states, and the affected individuals all have some relation to Mexico.

“They either traveled to Mexico or they had contact with somebody who traveled to Mexico and was sick,” said Robin Rhodes, assistant health director at the St. Joseph-Buchanan County Health Department.

Mr. Rhodes said that is why the cases have been scattered and relatively low, compared to millions usually affected in a flu outbreak.

People who have recently traveled to Mexico should contact their physician if they experience fever over 100 degrees or lethargy, Mr. Rhodes said. To everyone else, the department is giving the same year-round anti-flu advice: cover your nose and mouth when sneezing, wash hands often and stay home if you are sick.

Despite travel warnings to Mexico, local travel agents say they are finding travelers reluctant to give up desperately needed vacation plans.

Chad Cotter, with Cotter Travel Associates, returned to St. Joseph from a trip to Cancun on Tuesday. A travel agent, he said most travelers are opting to take an anti-viral drug like Tamiflu with them to Mexico. “They just decided that they weren’t going to allow this to ruin their vacation,” he said.

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.