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The World Health Organisation (WHO) headquarters seen in Geneva in this April 27, 2009 file photo. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse) |
The United Nations agency raised its pandemic flu alert to phase 6 on a six-point scale, indicating the first influenza pandemic since 1968 is under way.
"With today's announcement, WHO moves from an emergency to a longer-term response. Based on past experience, this pandemic will be with us for some months, if not years, to come," WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said in a letter to staff, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
People aged 30-50, pregnant women or people suffering from chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes or obesity are at highest risk, Chan told a news conference.
Countries from Australia to Chile and the United States are reporting the new swine flu virus is "crowding out" seasonal flu, becoming the predominant influenza strain, she said.
For now the virus was "pretty stable," but Chan warned that it could still change into a more deadly form, perhaps mixing with the H5N1 bird flu virus circulating widely in poultry.
"So it is incumbent on WHO and all members to stay vigilant and alert for the next year or two or even beyond," she said.
There is also a risk the swine flu could mix with its seasonal H1N1 cousin, which has developed resistance to the main antiviral flu drug Tamiflu, made by Roche AG and Gilead Sciences Inc, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a separate briefing.
The United States has been operating on pandemic status for weeks, with hundreds of thousands of cases and at least 1,000 hospitalizations, Schuchat said.
GUARDING AGAINST 'RASH' ACTIONS
The virus disproportionately makes younger people sick. Some 57 percent of U.S. cases were among people aged 5 to 24, and 41 percent of those hospitalized were in this younger age group.
H1N1 is active in all 50 states and there are so many cases now that in some areas, patients with specific flu-like symptoms -- a fever above 104 degrees F (40 degrees C), cough or other respiratory symptoms -- are presumed to have the new virus.
WHO 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, a call echoed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"We must guard against rash and discriminatory actions such as travel bans or trade restrictions," Ban told a news conference at U.N. headquarters.
The move to phase 6 reflects the fact that the disease, widely known as swine flu, is spreading geographically, but does not indicate how virulent it is.
Widespread transmission of the virus in Australia, signaling that it is entrenched in another region besides North America, was one of the key triggers for moving to phase 6.
"We are satisfied that this virus is spreading to a number of countries and it is not stoppable," Chan said.
"Moving to pandemic phase 6 level does not imply we will see an increase in the number of deaths or very severe cases. Quite on the contrary. Many people are having mild disease, they recover without medicines in some cases and it is good news," she said.
"Although the pandemic appears to have moderate severity in comparatively well-off countries, it is prudent to anticipate a bleaker picture as the virus spreads to areas with limited resources, poor health care, and a high prevalence of underlying medical problems," she added.
Canadian health officials said they were concerned about reports of more severe symptoms in some aboriginal communities, but said it was too soon to say for sure.
"To make conclusions based on a couple of communities that this is somehow a disease that is worse in a particular ethnic group. It's much too early to make any of those kinds of conclusions or presumptions," said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer.
VACCINE DEVELOPMENT UNDERWAY
Chan said WHO would start distributing a further donation of 5.65 million courses of Tamiflu from Roche.
WHO recommended drugmakers stay on track to complete production of seasonal influenza vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere's next winter in the next two weeks. Each year, normal flu kills up to 500,000 people and infects millions.
Work on developing an H1N1 vaccine is already under way at leading companies, whose factories will be ready to switch to making a pandemic shot in around two weeks' time, when normal season flu vaccine production is complete.
Seasonal flu affects mainly the 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.
"So our recommendation is they need to finish the seasonal vaccine and then move over," Chan said.
Chan said the Geneva-based agency would work with regulatory authorities to help fast-track approval of new pandemic vaccines that are safe and effective so that they can be made available as soon as possible. In any case, the first doses would only be available in September, she 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 pandemic, as investors focused on possible global economic recovery.
The strain, which emerged in April in Mexico and the United States, has spread widely. There have been 28,774 infections confirmed in 74 countries to date, including 144 deaths, according to WHO's latest tally of laboratory-confirmed cases.
Stricter H1N1 measures as WHO declares pandemic
The World Health Organisation has declared the influenza A (H1N1) a pandemic, raising the alert level to the highest at Phase Six. This means that the flu has spread from human to human in more than one region in the world.
More drastic measures including greater screening at entry points into the country will kick in with the declaration of a pandemic for influenza A(H1N1), said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
Other measures included taking passengers’ temperatures before disembarkation and controlling human traffic from an affected township or village, he said.
He said the ministry would be drawing up a plan to prepare Malaysia for a possible Level Six scenario.
He said ministry officials would also be visiting hospitals and clinics to inform healthcare workers and general practitioners to be prepared and to be on high alert. “The people have to be on high alert. be cautious and follow the ministry’s instructions,” he said.
However, Liow said there was no need to postpone or cancel travel plans as the World Health Organisation (WHO) had not given instructions for border closures.
He said the next step following the declaration of the pandemic was to initiate the National Inter-Ministerial Influenza Pandemic Committee, which will meet next week. Joint regional measures would also be undertaken, he said.
Under the WHO definition, the pandemic – the first since the Mexico Flu in 1968 – meant that the A(H1N1) was spreading from human to human in more than one region.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican said the country would have to look at more stringent measures to contain the outbreak.
“At Level Six, we cannot be doing the same as before,” he said, adding that he would be calling for a press conference today on the matter.
Level Six is WHO’s alert level for a pandemic and is the highest alert level it can issue.
Liow also announced that two more cases of influenza A (H1N1) had been confirmed in Malaysia, bringing the total to 11.
The 10th patient is a 17-year-old girl who returned from a holiday in Melbourne on June 9.
She arrived at KL International Airport on Malaysia Airlines MH148 (seat 14A) at 7.30pm and was immediately referred to the Sungai Buloh Hospital after she was found to have a fever of 38.5°C, cough and sore throat. Test results returned positive the following day. The girl is receiving anti-viral treatment and is in stable condition.
The 11th patient is a 41-year-old woman who returned from Manila via Singapore Airlines SQ192 on June 6. Her flight made a transit stop in Singapore before landing in Penang.
She started showing flu symptoms on June 9 and was warded at the Penang General Hospital the following day. At 9am yesterday, her test results returned positive.
Liow said 178 people were still under home quarantine after being in contact with some of the patients. None of them have shown flu symptoms.
Source : STAR STAR2
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Let us pray to the GOD... hoping that everything will be fine soon...
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