Swine Flu Update: WHO May Elevate to Level 6 Pandemic for H1N1

by Tina Kells | June 2, 2009 at 10:34 am

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The latest Swine Flu update suggests that WHO may elevate the global pandemic alert for H1N1 from level 5 to level 6 in the next few days. The H1N1 virus continues to spread rapidly and is now found in 64 nations world wide. While H1N1 Swine Flu first surfaced in Mexico it is now most prevalent in North America.

In recent weeks new cases of H1N1 have been identified in Australia, Britain, Chile, Japan, Spain and Egypt. While Swine Flu has not turned out to be as fatal as first expected the WHO cautions people about considering the outbreak to be mild. It is widely felt within the medical community that the worst is yet to come.

"We are at Phase 5 but are getting closer to Phase 6," Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, told journalists during a telephone conference.

"There are a number of countries that appear to be in transition, moving from travel-related cases to more established community types of spread," he said.

"Some of these countries are the countries that you have been following for quite a while, but they include countries such as the UK and Spain in Europe, Japan in Asia, Chile in South America and also Australia."

According to the WHO's latest figures, the new influenza strain, also known as swine flu, has been found in 64 countries, and remains most prevalent in North America. WHO laboratories have confirmed nearly 19,000 infections including 117 people who have died.