WHO to raise swine flu alert to Level 6

Declaration of swine flu pandemic is imminent, says WHO.

WHO will declare swine flu a pandemic any time soon, as the H1N1 virus has spread to 30 US states and with 20 countries across the world  confirming swine flu infection in little more than a week.

The H1N1 virus is probably circulating in virtually all U.S.states.

First reported in the US and Mexico, H1N1 also has been confirmed in Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and New Zealand.

The WHO added Colombia and El Salvador to the list of countries with confirmed cases. The other nations are Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, China (Hong Kong), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S.

WHO said the declaration of a pandemic is imminent. “I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent,” said Michael Ryan, the agency’s director of global alert and response, at a news conference on May 2.

WHO has raised its alert level to 5 – next to the highest on April 29 prompting governments to carry out plans to curb the disease.

The level 5 signals a further elevation to 6 – a pandemic, health experts said. If it happens, it would be the first time WHO raising the alert level to 6 since it introduced the six-level system in 2005. The alertness level was at 3 a week ago, according to the WHO Web site.

However, the world is now closer to another influenza pandemic than at any time since 1968, when the last of the previous century’s three pandemics occurred.

History of flu outbreaks

H1N1 has affected more people than the H5N1 avian influenza. Avian flu that emerged in 2003 killed more than half of the 421 who contracted the avian flu. But avian flu did not spread from person to person.

In 1918 another version of bird flu, commonly known as the Spanish flu, killed about 50 million people in one of deadliest outbreaks in human history.

Following WHO’s warning, almost every country across the world sprung into action stock piling anti flu medications.

WHO has sent batches of seed virus – the samples of the H1N1 strain of the virus causing swine flu — are being developed for potential vaccine production.

Several vaccine makers including Sanofi-Aventis SA, Baxter International Inc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc of London and Serum Institute of India are currently in the process of developing vaccine against H1N1 virus.

There are three main seasonal flu strains — H3N2, another form of H1N1, and type-B that cause flu in humans. About 250,000 to 500,000 people die of flu every year globally.,

Swine flu symptoms are similar to the common fly including aches, coughing, and fever, according to the WHO. People with the swine flu are more likely to have diarrhea, says Centre for Disease Control (CDC), US.

Though swine-flu symptoms are mild, the speed of the spread of the new H1N1 virus among a world population with no natural immunity makes it a threat, health officials said.

What’s phase 6 or pandemic alert?

Phase 6 designation will indicate that a global pandemic is under way. The pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5.

Previous pandemics have been characterized by waves of activity spread over months. Once the level of disease activity drops, a critical communications task will be to balance this information with the possibility of another wave.

During the post-peak period, pandemic disease levels in most countries with adequate surveillance will have dropped below peak observed levels.

In the post-pandemic period, influenza disease activity will have returned to levels normally seen for seasonal influenza. It is expected that the pandemic virus will behave as a seasonal influenza A virus. At this stage, it is important to maintain surveillance and update pandemic preparedness and response plans accordingly. An intensive phase of recovery and evaluation may be required, says WHO.