Flu pandemic nears
Thursday June 11th, 2009
Swine flu may soon be declared a global pandemic as it takes hold in the southern hemisphere, it was reported yesterday.
The disease has taken hold in Australia where some 1,200 cases have been confirmed.
It is also spreading in South America and its spread seems to have accelerated in Britain.
Dr Keiji Fukuda, head of the WHO global influenza programme, said: "We are getting close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation.
"It does not mean that the severity of the situation has increased or that people are getting seriously sick at higher numbers or higher rates than before."
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl added: "What we are seeing now with H1N1 is that in most cases the disease is self-limting, lets say 98-98 per cent of the people we know to be affected recover without any need for hospitalisation, as far as we can tell.
"We do understand that the natural reaction of people if and when we declare phase six could be very strong.
"But we would hope that there would be quite quickly an adjustment reaction, as happened in the US, when people realised they weren't getting seriously ill."
WHO has recorded some 27,737 cases in 74 countries.
In the USA some 27 deaths and 13,217 cases have been recorded.
In Britain the total number of confirmed cases reached 750 yesterday.
Tags: Australia | Flu & Viruses | Traveller Health | UK News | World Health
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