Health

WHO Set to Raise Swine Flu Alert Level to 6 and Declare Pandemic

by Rob Walker | May 4, 2009 at 06:00 am

1646 views | 54 Recommendations | 8 comments

At least 226 swine flu cases have been reported in the United States and the World Health Organization is set to raise the alert level to 6 and declare a pandemic. WHO officials say not to panic and a level 6 pandemic level is not 'the end of the world'.

The warning is there to keep countries from becoming overconfident and make sure they don't allow H1N1 the opportunity to mix with other viruses.

"Level six does not mean, in any way, that we are facing the end of the world. It is important to make this clear because (otherwise) when we announce level six it will cause an unnecessary panic," Reuters reported WHO Director General Margaret Chan told Spanish newspaper El Pais.
"Flu viruses are very unpredictable, very deceptive... We should not be overconfident. One must not give H1N1 the opportunity to mix with other viruses. That is why we are on alert," she reportedly told the newspaper.

They said most cases were mild - although a small boy visiting from Mexico died - and the spread was no worse than seasonal flu.
Mexico, where the outbreak originated, says cases of new infections are declining and authorities will decide on whether to allow schools to reopen.

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Uwe Paschen

at 06:29 on May 4th, 2009

in the mean time 2080 people have died of Meningitis over the past two weeks in West Africa. They certainly do not worry about Swine Flue.

Mary Richard

at 07:20 on May 4th, 2009

Time had an interesting article this weekend about this.

"Swine flu has been making headlines in the Western world, but in places like India and Africa, where "pandemic" is just another part of the daily vocabulary, no one has so much as stifled a sneeze.

In Africa, malaria kills more than 3,000 children a day; in South Africa, HIV/AIDS has taken 2.8 million people and infected 5.3 million more. Every day in India, 1,000 people succumb to tuberculosis. Those are just the big diseases.

So, when the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that deaths in Mexico from the H1N1 swine flu leapt to 16, you can see why the news didn't make the front page in Africa or India."

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 06:34 on May 4th, 2009

Thanks for this. I don.t understand why they want to raise it. It seems to be petering out by all accounts. There is the fear that it will come back this coming winter.

Mary Richard

at 07:15 on May 4th, 2009

What Phase 6 Means:

Phase 5, human-to-human spread of the virus in at least two countries in the same region. This is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent, with little time left to finish preparations.

Phase 6, global pandemic has begun. This includes community level outbreaks in at least one other region. This may trigger countries to activate their own pandemic response plans, though some countries may already have done this in phases 4 or 5.

LilHoody

at 11:25 on May 4th, 2009

Woaw - lets hope and pray things can get better. this is crazy.

Ivan Esquivel

at 13:07 on May 4th, 2009

WHO's a Joke

A. Tran

at 13:23 on May 4th, 2009

WHO issued its 14th update regarding the influenza AH1N1 at level 5 pandemic alert.

4 May 2009 -- As of 18:00 GMT, 4 May 2009, 21 countries have officially reported 1085 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.

Mexico has reported 590 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 25 deaths. The United States has reported 286 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (101), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Costa Rica (1), Colombia (1), Denmark (1), El Salvador (2), France (4), Germany (8), Ireland (1), Israel (4), Italy (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (6), Portugal (1), Republic of Korea (1), Spain (54), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (18).

sally house (not verified)

at 13:14 on May 5th, 2009

I dont Know Why people are worring There is a cure called oinksip and It Is just like normal Flu also they are advising to wash hands if you want to be SUPER cauations.