Swine Flu / 2009 H1N1 flu Now a Phase 6 Pandemic: First in 40 Years

"World 'must be watchful' of A/H1N1 flu, says UN chief"
Xinhua via philstar.com (June 12, 2009) (about the date: I know - it's that International Dateline thing)

"UN Secretary-general Ban Ki- moon said here yesterday that the world 'must be watchful' of A/ H1N1 flu, but 'it is not in itself a cause for alarm.'

"The UN chief made the statement at his monthly press conference after the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday declared the first influenza pandemic in four decades. The pandemic is caused by the new A/H1N1 flu virus...."

That A/H1N1 flu virus is better known as "swine flu." WHO and other agencies have been trying to get the message across that it's now spread from human to human. And, is more of a human/avian/swine flu mutant hybrid.

There's good news, still: so far, the A/H1N1 virus hasn't repeated the one-in-14 kill ratio it had at first.

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"Swine flu 'not stoppable,' World Health Organization says"
CNN (June 11, 2009)

"The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.

"Increasing the alert to Phase 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said.

" 'This is an important and challenging day for all of us,' WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in a briefing with reporters. 'We are moving into the early days of the first flu pandemic of the 21st century.'

"The last previous pandemic occurred in 1968.

"As of Thursday, the virus had spread to 74 countries, the health agency said. There were 28,774 confirmed cases and 144 deaths...."

Kudos to CNN for reporting: "...Increasing the alert to Phase 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said...." (CNN) [emphasis mine]

On the other hand, that "Swine flu 'not stoppable,' World Health Organization says" headline reminded me of the "bullets won't stop them!" sort of line from cheap monster movies of the fifties

The headline's accurate, though: "...'Further spread is considered inevitable,' Chan said at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. 'The scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met.'..." (CNN)

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"Flu pandemic alert raised to phase 6"
World Health Organization (WHO) (June 11, 2009)

"On the basis of available evidence and expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met. The Director-General of WHO has therefore decided to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 5 to phase 6."

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Influenza A H1/N1 a Phase 6 Pandemic - What to Do?

Bottom Line seems to be: don't be stupid, and don't panic. Simple enough. Influenza of any sort is not something a person would reasonably want to have, and there are common-sense ways to reduce the risk of catching it. There's a pretty good resource list in this blog's "Swine Flu 2009."

In the news and reports:

• "World 'must be watchful' of A/H1N1 flu, says UN chief"
  Xinhua via philstar.com (June 12, 2009)
• "Swine flu 'not stoppable,' World Health Organization says"
  CNN (June 11, 2009)
• "Flu pandemic alert raised to phase 6"
  World Health Organization (WHO) (June 11, 2009)

List of posts relating to Swine flu 2009; and list of background resources:

• "Swine Flu 2009"
  • "Swine flu 2009 posts"
  • "Background and more information"
    Including links to
    • "1918 Influenza Timeline"
    • "The Influenza Pandemic of 1918"
  • "WHO Alert Phases"
  • " 'Public Health Emergency' - What's That Mean? "