Health Spectator

The World Health Organization reported today that should the current North American swine flu outbreak become a pandemic, it might affect a third of the world’s population. WHO’s Keiji Fukuda, an influenza expert, said that while there was no predicting at this point what will actually happen, a pandemic would probably infect about 2 billion people. To become a pandemic and thereby move the WHO’s health alert status for the disease outbreak to level 6—the top level—it would have to spread to another region of the world. (more…)

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Swine flu spreads; another American dies

Electron micrograph of swine flu virus.

Although present dangers from swine flu may be less severe than originally feared, victims continue to die from the disease as it spreads across the globe. The latest developments place new cases in Australia, China and Japan, while new deaths linked to the disease have occurred in Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States. A Washington state man was the third confirmed casualty (more…)

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A Utah man who died today is the ninth U.S. victim

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As the “new” A(H1N1) swine flu spreads in the U.S., 13,217 cases are current in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. There were 27 U.S. deaths from the flu as of 11 am today, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. At the time of our last report on U.S. fatalities a week ago, deaths totaled 15, with 48 states and Washington, DC claiming 8,975 infections.

That gives the U.S. an increase of 4,242 cases in one week, with 12 more dead over the same period—an 80% increase in deaths for a 47% increase in cases. (more…)

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We mentioned in our last posting on swine flu that if cases in Australia increased significantly, the World Health Organization (WHO) may be forced to declare A(H1N1) a pandemic.

Cases in Australia have continued to mount. Friday’s figure was 876 confirmed cases in Australia, according to WHO statistics, which are updated Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. As of today, WHO is reporting 1,051 cases in Australia, while the local weblog Swine Flu in Australia, is reporting that Australian cases have reached 1,207.

Since Australia is just now entering the winter season, its swine flu caseload could explode. Swine Flu in Australia is also reporting that thanks to a soccer match last week, “the entire Queensland team is now in quarantine after a player tested positive to Swine Flu.”

The latest WHO figures put the global swine flu count at 25,288 cases, with 139 dead and 73 countries affected. Those figures were released as of 6:00 am GMT, Monday, June 8.

Meanwhile, Dehli reported its first swine flu case yesterday, bringing India’s total swine flu caseload to 10 as of Sunday. Those figures are not reflected in this morning’s WHO report.

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First pandemic declared in 41 years

Acceding to a global rise in A(H1N1) infections, the World Health Organization today raised its pandemic alert level for swine flu to level 6—its highest level.

Asking member nations not to impose restrictions on travel or anything that might interfere with commerce, the organization stressed that the alert level reflects the widespread nature of the flu—its “unstoppability”—but not the severity of its symptoms or the number of its fatalities, which so far appear to be below the levels posed by so-called “seasonal” flu.

Indeed, WHO recommends that drug manufacturers stay on track with producing their annual allotments of seasonal flu vaccines before switching over to produce vaccines for swine flu.

In a report early last week, Health Spectator had reported that the novel H1N1 epidemic had technically achieved pandemic status according to WHO’s guidelines just by virtue of its rapid spread in Australia. The outbreak began in North America, and WHO guidelines specify a pandemic level 6 when the infection has achieved uncontrolled human-to-human transmission in more than one part of the globe.

There have been 28,774 infections reported in 74 countries to date, including 144 deaths, according to WHO’s latest tally of laboratory-confirmed cases.

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