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WHO Director-General Margaret Chan - Source: Reuters -
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The World Health Organization said that the H1N1 virus was
stable and there was no sign of it mixing with avian flu or other
influenza viruses.
"The virus is still very stable," WHO Director-General Margaret
Chan told reporters at a news briefing in Moscow when asked if
there were any signs of the virus mixing with other strains such as
avian flu.
"But as we all know the influenza virus is highly unpredictable and
has great potential for mutation," she said.
Some health officials have said they are concerned that there is a
risk that H1N1, which is commonly referred to as swine flu, could
combine with the much deadlier H5N1 bird flu virus.
Chan said the viruses needed to be closely monitored to make sure
they were not mutating.
"We would need to look at how they are behaving in southern
hemisphere countries to see whether the H1N1 and the usual seasonal
influenza virus would reassort. So far we have not detected any
signal," she said.
"Another important thing we need to monitor is H1N1 and H5N1, which
is endemic in some countries in Asia and the Middle East. We would
like to see whether there will be any change," she said.
"Again, we did not detect any signal that there is any
reassortment."
