Swine flu pandemic has begun - WHO says it decided to raise the pandemic alert level from phase 5 to 6
WHO: Swine flu pandemic has begun, 1st in 41 years
35 minutes ago
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization has told its member nations it is declaring a swine flu pandemic — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.
The move came Thursday as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.
In a statement sent to member countries, WHO says it decided to raise the pandemic alert level from phase 5 to 6, meaning that a global outbreak of swine flu has begun. The decision was made after the U.N. health agency held an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization held an emergency swine flu meeting Thursday and was likely to declare the first flu pandemic in 41 years as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.
Health officials from Scotland, Indonesia and Thailand said the agency would declare a swine flu pandemic — a global epidemic — on Thursday after a teleconference with leading flu experts. Officials at U.N. missions in Geneva also said they expected the imminent announcement of a pandemic.
WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said only that the emergency meeting began at noon in Geneva and WHO member nations would be informed of the result. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan was holding a press conference at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon EDT).
"It is likely in light of sustained community transmission in countries outside of North America — most notably in Australia — that level 6 will be declared," Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish lawmakers, adding it would be Thursday.
Indonesian health minister Siti Fadilah Supari said she had been notified by WHO that "today will be declared to be phase 6."
Phase 6 is WHO's highest alert level and means that a swine flu pandemic is under way. 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.
Since the new flu strain — dubbed A(H1N1) — first emerged in Mexico and the United States in April, it has spread to 74 countries around the globe. On Wednesday, WHO reported 27,737 cases including 141 deaths. 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.
The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money to containing the virus.
In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would spark mass panic.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where so many people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week that emergency health services in the capital have collapsed. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.
In Hong Kong, the government on Thursday ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu.
In Australia, swine flu cases jumped to more than 1,000 on Monday and reached 1,260 by late Wednesday.
WHO says its pandemic announcement would not mean the situation was worsening, since no mutations have been detected in the virus to show it is getting more deadly.
In Edinburgh, Sturgeon told lawmakers that a WHO announcement means countries should immediately activate their pandemic plans.
"A move to level 6 is not a verdict on the severity of the virus," she said. "It simply means that the extent of global spread now fulfills the definition of a pandemic."
Associated Press writers Maria Cheng and Jill Lawless in London, Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong, Vincente L. Panetta in Buenos Aires and Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva contributed to this report.
35 minutes ago
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization has told its member nations it is declaring a swine flu pandemic — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.
The move came Thursday as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.
In a statement sent to member countries, WHO says it decided to raise the pandemic alert level from phase 5 to 6, meaning that a global outbreak of swine flu has begun. The decision was made after the U.N. health agency held an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization held an emergency swine flu meeting Thursday and was likely to declare the first flu pandemic in 41 years as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.
Health officials from Scotland, Indonesia and Thailand said the agency would declare a swine flu pandemic — a global epidemic — on Thursday after a teleconference with leading flu experts. Officials at U.N. missions in Geneva also said they expected the imminent announcement of a pandemic.
WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said only that the emergency meeting began at noon in Geneva and WHO member nations would be informed of the result. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan was holding a press conference at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon EDT).
"It is likely in light of sustained community transmission in countries outside of North America — most notably in Australia — that level 6 will be declared," Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish lawmakers, adding it would be Thursday.
Indonesian health minister Siti Fadilah Supari said she had been notified by WHO that "today will be declared to be phase 6."
Phase 6 is WHO's highest alert level and means that a swine flu pandemic is under way. 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.
Since the new flu strain — dubbed A(H1N1) — first emerged in Mexico and the United States in April, it has spread to 74 countries around the globe. On Wednesday, WHO reported 27,737 cases including 141 deaths. 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.
The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money to containing the virus.
In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would spark mass panic.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where so many people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week that emergency health services in the capital have collapsed. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.
In Hong Kong, the government on Thursday ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu.
In Australia, swine flu cases jumped to more than 1,000 on Monday and reached 1,260 by late Wednesday.
WHO says its pandemic announcement would not mean the situation was worsening, since no mutations have been detected in the virus to show it is getting more deadly.
In Edinburgh, Sturgeon told lawmakers that a WHO announcement means countries should immediately activate their pandemic plans.
"A move to level 6 is not a verdict on the severity of the virus," she said. "It simply means that the extent of global spread now fulfills the definition of a pandemic."
Associated Press writers Maria Cheng and Jill Lawless in London, Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong, Vincente L. Panetta in Buenos Aires and Bradley S. Klapper in Geneva contributed to this report.
Comment
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Comment by Jeff on June 16, 2009 at 12:49am
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Squalene James
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Comment by Localtarian on June 16, 2009 at 12:33am
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How will I know my area is going to be effected by the false flag terror alter the CDC and WHO are declaring? Nothing different here on the west coast, I drove all up and down California this week spreading the word, from central California to bay area and back, and have still not noticed anything different since the declaring of level 6. Anyone have any tips or signs for me to look for, besides the the obvious quarantine bio vans on the side of the freeway or in industrial building parking lots and schools. or huge lines at medical centers and Dr.'s forcing patients to take their new federally paid for vaccines?
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Comment by truth on June 14, 2009 at 2:48am
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I wonder if it was meant to introduce some thing in to our immune system for a later date?
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Comment by illuminated-dj on June 14, 2009 at 1:53am
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dunno derek what their plan is with it.maybe beta test for something bigger,maybe an excuse to get lots of people vaccinated,maybe excuse for marshall law,maybe excuse for big pharma to make profit.All i can think of in these uncertain times is it's not looking good.
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yes, it's going to mutate into a major money suck
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Comment by Derek Starpass on June 13, 2009 at 10:38pm
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Is this swine flu expected to mutate into something even more dangerous; maybe a disease we cannot stop?
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Yup, good additive free fruits and vegetables, a little bit of lean beef and fish and a lot of fruit juice and vegetable juice. That oughta do it.
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Comment by TheLasersShadow on June 12, 2009 at 8:53pm
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Cannabis isn't a drug to me ... for that matter anything that you can grab off the earth and eat isn't drug like to me. But this is off topic.
We can solve a lot of health problems if we used just what God gave us, vaccines are not in any way healthy. Whats cured most sicknesses is modern water treatment and clean environments around the people not vaccines.
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I won't be getting any flu shots but I also won't be saying no to drugs. I like smoking pot and based on statistics it's far safer than many other forms of entertainment.
Annual Deaths in The United States for the year 2000
Tobacco deaths - 435,000
Poor Diet - 365,000
Microbial Agents - 75,000
Toxic Chemicals - 55,000
*Flu - 36,000
Motor Vehicle Accidents - 26,300
Prescription Drugs - 32,000
Suicide - 30,000
Firearms - 29,000
Homicide - 20,308
Illicit Drug Overdoses - 17,000
NSAIDs (like Aspirin) - 7,600
Marijuana - 0 (that's ZERO)
It even helps alleviate flu symptoms and can be eaten in brownies when you have a sore throat.
Peace.
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Comment by Tara on June 12, 2009 at 3:25pm
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Oh yes, we'll be getting the vaccines here in the good ole USA in the fall which is only a few months away, so how in the hell can the vaccines be miraculously safe and out of the trial phase in a couple of months. You're right, we'll all be the guinea pigs except for those that JUST SAY NO to being vaccinated!
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