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The World Health Organisation (WHO) logo is seen at its headquarters in Geneva - Source: Reuters -
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The World Health Organisation declared the first flu pandemic of
the 21st century, Sweden's health ministry said.
The health ministry said the United Nations agency was raising its
pandemic flu alert to the top Phase 6 on a six-point scale,
indicating the first influenza pandemic since 1968 is under
way.
"Today... the Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health Maria
Larsson has called a press conference following a decision by the
WHO to raise the pandemic level to six for the influenza A H1N1
virus," the ministry said in a statement.
WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan was due to give a news
conference on the influenza (A) H1N1 pandemic at 1600 GMT,
following a meeting of the WHO's emergency committee of flu
experts, and WHO spokesmen declined to comment before that.
The move will trigger heightened health measures in the WHO's 193
member states as authorities brace for the worldwide spread of the
virus that has so far caused mainly mild illness.
The move to Phase 6 reflects the fact that the disease, widely
known as swine flu, was spreading geographically, but not
necessarily indicate how virulent it is.
"Phase 6, if we call a Phase 6, doesn't mean anything concerning
severity, it is concerning geographic spread ... Pandemic means
global, but it doesn't have any connotation of severity or
mildness," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
"In fact, what we are seeing with this virus so far is
overwhelmingly to date mild disease. So we would think that this
event is really a moderate event for the time being, because the
numbers are high but the disease is overwhelmingly mild," he said
before the committee meeting.
David Heymann, a former top WHO official now chairing Britain's
Health Protection Agency, said that countries had tried to contain
the virus through measures including school closures during the
previous phase 5.
This has extended the precious time needed to prepare for a
full-blown pandemic.
"During Phase 5, the government and people in the UK have had the
time to prepare for a pandemic - this has hopefully decreased any
surprise and concern that might be associated with a WHO
announcement of Phase 6, if one is made," he said.
As it spreads in humans, science cannot predict what course the
virus will take, the disease it causes and the age groups infected,
Heymann said.
"The severity of that disease, the effectiveness of antiviral
drugs and the stability of the virus must all be watched closely,"
he added.
A pandemic could cause enormous disruption to business as workers
stay home because they are sick or to look after family members and
authorities restrict gatherings of large numbers of people or
movement of people or goods.
World markets shrugged off the possibility of a pandemic, as
investors focused on possible global economic recovery.
Australia likely trigger
Widespread transmission of the virus in Victoria, Australia,
signalling that it is entrenched in another region besides North
America, was likely to be the trigger for moving to Phase 6.
Five people have been admitted to intensive care in Australia and
more than 1,000 cases confirmed following widespread testing in the
state.
"We have tested 5,500 people in the last two weeks, that is more
people than we test in our whole influenza season," said Victorian
state premier John Brumby.
One health source, who declined to be named, said the experts were
also expected to recommend finishing production currently under way
of seasonal flu vaccine for the northern hemisphere next
winter.
"They might say finish seasonal vaccine and say begin pandemic
vaccine as soon as it is feasible," he said.
Drugmakers have obtained the new influenza A (H1N1) seed virus in
the past two weeks, enabling them to begin the production process
by growing the virus in eggs.
Company officials said that they were on track to have a vaccine
against the new strain ready for the northern hemisphere
autumn.
Seasonal flu each year kills up to half a million people, mainly
elderly, 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.
The new strain can be treated by antiviral drugs oseltamivir, the
generic name of Roche Holding's Tamiflu tablets, and Relenza, a
spray made by GlaxoSmithKline.
The strain, which emerged in April in Mexico and the United States,
has spread widely in nations including Australia, Britain, Chile
and Japan.
Authorities in Germany have confirmed 30 cases of H1N1 at a school
in the industrial Rhineland city of Duesseldorf, the most
concentrated outbreak of the virus so far in Europe's biggest
economy.
There have been 27,737 infections reported in 74 countries to date,
including 141 deaths, according to the WHO's latest tally of
laboratory confirmed cases, but the real number of people with the
disease is likely to run into at least hundreds of thousands, as
mild cases may not have been detected.
A survey by New York City's health department showed that 6.9% of
the city's population of over eight million had experienced
flu-like illness - which could include other diseases - in the
first three weeks of May.
"The findings don't tell us exactly how many New Yorkers have had
H1N1 influenza," said New York City Health Commissioner Dr Thomas
Farley in a statement.
"But they suggest it has been widespread, and mild in most affected people."
