WHO: Flu pandemic may be unfolding; evolving

[Guest guest]

Flu pandemic may be unfolding: WHO

Reuters By Macinnis – Mon May 18, 2:07 pm ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – Humanity may be witnessing an influenza pandemic unfold, the

head of the World Health Organization said on Monday, as Japan reported a big

jump in infections with the newly-discovered H1N1 virus.

Flu fears dominated the start of the WHO's annual congress in Geneva, where many

of the 40 countries touched by the flu strain urged the United Nations agency to

rethink its pandemic alert scale that is now at the second-highest notch.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak that began in North America

and has stretched to Europe, Asia and South America needed to be tackled with

seriousness even though its symptoms appear to be largely mild.

" For the first time in humanity, we are seeing, or we may be seeing, pandemic

influenza evolving in front of our eyes, " Chan told the World Health Assembly

meeting in Geneva, where rich and poor governments discussed their drug, vaccine

and other needs.

" We are all under pressure to make urgent and far-reaching decisions in an

atmosphere of considerable scientific uncertainty, " Chan told the annual

congress, which was shortened in length to allow health ministers to go home

earlier and resume their monitoring for flu infections.

Several topics including food safety and viral hepatitis were dropped from the

agenda while drug-resistant tuberculosis was initially slated to be postponed

and then re-added at the last moment with support from China and others.

According to the WHO's latest tally, 74 people have died from H1N1 infection.

Most of the other nearly 9,000 patients have suffered mild effects like fever

and diarrhea from the bug that is a genetic mix of swine, bird and human

viruses.

But its rapid spread between people and across countries has caused the WHO to

raise the alert and declare a pandemic is " imminent, " a designation that

reflects views on the way the new virus is spreading and not the seriousness of

its effects.

Mexico, Britain, China, Egypt, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates were

among those who called at the opening-day session for the WHO to rethink its

criteria for declaring a pandemic, which under current rules would occur when

the virus is spreading in a sustained way in two regions of the world.

British Health Secretary Alan said the " mechanistic process " now in

place seems to give the wrong public impression about the seriousness of the

flu, which can be treated without drugs in most cases.

Chan, who also fought bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in

her tenure as Hong Kong health director, said she would consider the request

that came just as the number of infections in Japan, Britain and Spain

approached critical mass.

The WHO said its laboratories have confirmed 125 cases in Japan, 103 in Spain

and 101 in Britain.

OUTBREAK NOT OVER

Officials from its North American stronghold said the virus was still spreading,

albeit in a seemingly less virulent form.

Besser, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

told a high-level session that the H1N1 strain has reached nearly all 50 U.S.

states and was likely to circulate worldwide.

" While we are not seeing the seriousness of illness that was initially reported

in Mexico, the outbreak is not over, " he said. Mexico's Health Minister

Angel Cordova said there was a slow but steady fall in the number of cases in

his country.

If H1N1 flu does reach all corners of the world, the WHO's Chan said there would

be certain communities at particular risk -- including people living in slums

and shantytowns, pregnant women, and patients with HIV/AIDS and other health

problems.

Poor countries are seeking international assistance to get drugs, diagnostic

tests and medical personnel needed to combat an outbreak which has so far not

been identified in Africa or in the world's most impoverished areas.

Developing nations are also negotiating fair access to antiviral drugs like

Tamiflu and to any vaccines developed to fight the H1N1 strain.

Officials will also seek an agreement on how samples of the virus should be

handled and shared with pharmaceutical companies working to develop vaccines to

fight the strain.

The WHO's Chan is due to hold meetings on Tuesday with U.N. Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon and top executives from several pharmaceutical companies, which are

waiting for a signal about whether to start making H1N1 jabs or to include the

strain in the seasonal flu vaccine mix.

http://news./s/nm/20090518/ts_nm/us_flu_who

[Guest guest]

This statement is anything but calming--at least to those who believe in the

theory of evolution (which excludes the Christian Rightwing of the GOP)--and

amounts to a cry of Wolf and a warning that we may not be able to defend

ourselves:

" For the first time in humanity, we are seeing, or we may be seeing, pandemic

influenza evolving in front of our eyes, " Chan told the World Health Assembly

meeting in Geneva, where rich and poor governments discussed their drug, vaccine

and other needs.

" We are all under pressure to make urgent and far-reaching decisions in an

atmosphere of considerable scientific uncertainty, " Chan told the annual

congress, which was shortened in length to allow health ministers to go home

earlier and resume their monitoring for flu infections...

http://news./s/nm/20090518/ts_nm/us_flu_who