WHO Declares Swine Flue Pandemic

"At this time, the global assessment is that we are seeing a moderate pandemic," said Chan. (Reuters)

"This is a very important and challenging day for all of us. It is important because we will be raising our pandemic alert level to level 6," WHO Director General Margaret Chan told a teleconference.

"At this time, the global assessment is that we are seeing a moderate pandemic."

The WHO decided to raise the pandemic warning to its highest level after an unanimous decision by its flu experts during an emergency meeting in Geneva.

The decision came after an overall assessment in the eight most heavily hit countries -- Australia, Britain, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the US – found that the virus is spreading in a sustained way in communities.

"Collectively, looking at that, we are satisfied that this virus is spreading to a number countries and it is not stoppable," Chan said.

The swine flu (H1N1), a mixture of various swine, bird and human viruses, first emerged in Mexico in April.

Since then, the WHO has recoded 27,737 infection cases, with 141 deaths, in 74 countries around the world.

The WHO declaration confirms swine flu as the first pandemic since the 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 2 million people globally.

In 1957, a novel H2N2 flu strain was first identified in southern China, and then spread to Singapore, Hong Kong and the US killing some four million people.

The first and most deadly pandemic of the last century was a cousin of the H1N1 strain of today's swine flu that unleashed the catastrophe against which all modern pandemics are measured.

It spread to nearly every part of the world, even as far as the Arctic and remote Pacific islands, and killed between 40 and 50 million people.

Not Severe

The WHO said simple measures are the best way to prevent the spread of even the most virulent virus.

"We also want to make clear that the higher level of the pandemic does not necessarily mean we are going to see a more dangerous virus or see many more people falling severely ill or dying," explained Chan, the WHO chief.

"Quite the contrary. Many people are having mild disease, they recover without medicines in some cases and it is good news."

Health experts agreed that announcing a pandemic should not create panic.

"Your can have serious pandemics, and you can have wimpy pandemics," Albert Osterhaus, a well known virologist at the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, told Agence France Presse (AFP).

Experts affirm that despite its scary connotations, the word is no indication as to how contagious or lethal a disease is.

"Even in the worst-case scenario, if this turns out to be a particularly nasty strain with around 25 percent of the population affected, the bulk of people are going to recover and lead normal lives health-wise," said Adam Kamradt-Scott, research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the University of London.

"There is a risk that some people could die, but ultimately the majority of people who contract it will recover.

"So people need to be cautious and take precautions, and act on scientific evidence and not panic."

Tips

Acting on the recommendation of flu experts, the WHO warned countries that already have large numbers of swine flu cases to prepare for a fresh wave of infections.

It also reiterated its advice to its 193 member countries not to close borders or impose travel restrictions to halt the movement of people, goods and services.

As for drug-makers, the WHO recommended that they stay on track to complete production of seasonal influenza vaccine for the northern hemisphere's next winter in the next two weeks.

"Each year, seasonal flu kills up to 500,000 people, and causes severe illness in millions, so a premature switch in vaccine production to cope with the new strain could put many people at risk," cautioned Chan, the WHO chief.