WHO declares swine flu pandemic

Announcement of first global epidemic in 41 years to trigger race for vaccines

In a statement sent to member countries, the WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 — its highest alert — after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.

The long-awaited pandemic decision 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 towards efforts to contain the virus.

“At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterised globally as being moderate in severity,” the WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade. “(We) remain in close dialogue with influenza vaccine manufacturers.”

Spreading globally

On Wednesday, the WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, 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.

Still, 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 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 last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 2,50,000 to 5,00,000 people each year.

Long-pending decision

Many health experts say the WHO’s pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged it not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.

“This is the WHO finally catching up with the facts,” said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the US government on pandemic preparations.

Despite WHO’s hopes, raising the epidemic alert to the highest level will almost certainly spark some panic about spread of swine flu.

Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands of people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in the capital of Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse. 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 on Thursday, the government ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu — a move that some flu experts would consider an overreaction.

How US tackles

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 Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the US tackled swine flu.

“Our actions in the past month have been as if there was a pandemic in this country,” Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesman, said. The US government has already taken steps like increasing availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorising $1 billion for the development of a new vaccine against the novel virus. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, US health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.