WHO considers raising global pandemic alert level
HELEN BRANSWELL
Canadian Press
April 24, 2009 at 12:25 PM EDT
<!-- dateline -->TORONTO<!-- /dateline --> ? Mexican authorities today confirmed they have found human cases of the same swine flu virus that has caused illness in the southwestern United States, a development that raises questions about whether the world is watching the start of a flu pandemic.
The World Health Organization expressed serious concern, saying it is considering whether it needs to raise the global pandemic alert level and whether to launch an effort to try to contain the spread of a virus with possible pandemic potential.
?We can't say for sure that either a phase change or a rapid containment operation will happen. But both have been considered and are being considered,? spokesman Gregory Hartl said from Geneva.
?I still don't think we have enough information to be able to say that this is a pandemic or not. Because there are questions over transmissibility, let's say, of the virus. And we need to know more about how easily transmitted the virus is.?
Videos
00:00:00.000
Heath officials concerned about mystery outbreak
Mexican doctors have confirmed 137 cases of an unidentified respiratory illness in south and central Mexico, and Canadian health officials are concerned that it could spread
Play Video
Mr. Hartl said there have been no reports of infections in any other countries to date.
Mexican authorities confirmed that samples tested both at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control tested positive for swine flu viruses. The unusual influenza A H1N1 viruses were first reported earlier this week, when the CDC announced it had found two human cases of infection with this never-before-seen virus.
Though human H1N1 viruses have been circulating for decades, it is not clear how much protection previous infection with them would confer against a virus made up predominantly of swine flu genes. The virus also has some bird genes and one human gene.
U.S. authorities have confirmed seven cases of swine flu infection in people in Southern California and Texas over the past few days. The seven range in age from nine to 54 years of age. All have recovered from the infection; one needed hospitalization.
But the news coming out of Mexico paints a different story, with reports of a fairly high attack rate and more than 20 deaths.
Reports suggest the majority of the cases are occurring in young, previously healthy adults in their mid 20s to mid 40s. There are said to have been over 800 cases so far, but it remains unclear if all of those people are sick with this virus or if other flu or respiratory viruses are also circulating and muddling the picture.
Mr. Hartl said the WHO is sending staff to Mexico to help authorities there get a better handle on the scope of the problem. ?We're extremely concerned because we're looking at five different influenza events which may or may not be connected,? he said, referring to California, Texas and three possibly linked outbreaks in Mexico.
?But they are unusual events, either because of the time of the year that they happened and or because of the people that have been affected. This is a great concern to us and we have activated our strategic health operation centre which is a 24-hour around-the-clock command and control centre.?
Canada and the United States have also launched their emergency control centres, signalling this is an event they want to track around the clock.
The world is currently at level 3 of the WHO's six-rung pandemic alert ladder, because of ongoing sporadic cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian flu virus. Phase 3 means there are occasional human cases with a novel flu virus.
WHO would need the advice of an expert panel to move up to Phase 4 or beyond. Phase 6 is a pandemic.
Mr. Hartl's comments suggest that panel has been put on alert that they may be drawn together at any time.
HELEN BRANSWELL
Canadian Press
April 24, 2009 at 12:25 PM EDT
<!-- dateline -->TORONTO<!-- /dateline --> ? Mexican authorities today confirmed they have found human cases of the same swine flu virus that has caused illness in the southwestern United States, a development that raises questions about whether the world is watching the start of a flu pandemic.
The World Health Organization expressed serious concern, saying it is considering whether it needs to raise the global pandemic alert level and whether to launch an effort to try to contain the spread of a virus with possible pandemic potential.
?We can't say for sure that either a phase change or a rapid containment operation will happen. But both have been considered and are being considered,? spokesman Gregory Hartl said from Geneva.
?I still don't think we have enough information to be able to say that this is a pandemic or not. Because there are questions over transmissibility, let's say, of the virus. And we need to know more about how easily transmitted the virus is.?
Videos
00:00:00.000
Heath officials concerned about mystery outbreak
Mexican doctors have confirmed 137 cases of an unidentified respiratory illness in south and central Mexico, and Canadian health officials are concerned that it could spread
Play Video
Mr. Hartl said there have been no reports of infections in any other countries to date.
Mexican authorities confirmed that samples tested both at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control tested positive for swine flu viruses. The unusual influenza A H1N1 viruses were first reported earlier this week, when the CDC announced it had found two human cases of infection with this never-before-seen virus.
Though human H1N1 viruses have been circulating for decades, it is not clear how much protection previous infection with them would confer against a virus made up predominantly of swine flu genes. The virus also has some bird genes and one human gene.
U.S. authorities have confirmed seven cases of swine flu infection in people in Southern California and Texas over the past few days. The seven range in age from nine to 54 years of age. All have recovered from the infection; one needed hospitalization.
But the news coming out of Mexico paints a different story, with reports of a fairly high attack rate and more than 20 deaths.
Reports suggest the majority of the cases are occurring in young, previously healthy adults in their mid 20s to mid 40s. There are said to have been over 800 cases so far, but it remains unclear if all of those people are sick with this virus or if other flu or respiratory viruses are also circulating and muddling the picture.
Mr. Hartl said the WHO is sending staff to Mexico to help authorities there get a better handle on the scope of the problem. ?We're extremely concerned because we're looking at five different influenza events which may or may not be connected,? he said, referring to California, Texas and three possibly linked outbreaks in Mexico.
?But they are unusual events, either because of the time of the year that they happened and or because of the people that have been affected. This is a great concern to us and we have activated our strategic health operation centre which is a 24-hour around-the-clock command and control centre.?
Canada and the United States have also launched their emergency control centres, signalling this is an event they want to track around the clock.
The world is currently at level 3 of the WHO's six-rung pandemic alert ladder, because of ongoing sporadic cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian flu virus. Phase 3 means there are occasional human cases with a novel flu virus.
WHO would need the advice of an expert panel to move up to Phase 4 or beyond. Phase 6 is a pandemic.
Mr. Hartl's comments suggest that panel has been put on alert that they may be drawn together at any time.
Comment