Friday, June 12, 2009
THE World Health Organisation declared a swine flu pandemic yesterday – the first global flu epidemic in 41 years – as infections in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere climbed to nearly 30,000 cases.
The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. WHO will now ask drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine. The declaration will also prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
WHO chief Dr Margaret Chan made the announcement yesterday after the UN agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts. Chan said she was moving the world to phase 6 – the agency’s highest alert level – which means a pandemic, or global epidemic, is under way.
"The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century," Chan told reporters. "The (swine flu) virus is now unstoppable."
On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu – there were 12 cases in Ireland – including 141 deaths. Chan described the virus as "moderate." According to WHO’s pandemic criteria, a global outbreak has begun when a new flu virus begins spreading in two world regions.
The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities – especially in poorer countries.
About half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy – people who are not usually susceptible to flu. Swine flu is also crowding out regular flu viruses. Both features are typical of pandemic flu viruses.
The last pandemic – the Hong Kong flu of 1968 – killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
The decision might have been made much earlier if WHO had more accurate information about swine flu’s rising sweep through Europe. Chan said she called the emergency meeting with flu experts after concerns were raised that some countries like Britain were not accurately reporting their cases.
WHO said it was now recommending that flu vaccine makers start making swine flu vaccine. Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline said they could start large-scale production of pandemic vaccine in July. but that it would take several months before large quantities would be available.
Many health experts say WHO’s pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier, but the agency became bogged down by politics.
Despite WHO’s hopes, the announcement will almost certainly spark panic about spread of swine flu in some countries.
In the United States, where there have been more than 13,000 cases and at least 27 deaths from swine flu, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the US tackled swine flu.
In Mexico, where the epidemic was first detected, the outbreak peaked in April. Mexico has confirmed 6,337 cases, including 108 deaths.
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