Giuseppe
Emeritus
Reuters AlertNet - Spain and Britain in focus of WHO flu monitoring
Spain and Britain in focus of WHO flu monitoring
05 May 2009 17:14:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
* No sign of sustained H1N1 flu spread outside North America
* Scientists try to fill gaps in knowledge about new virus
* WHO says at least 1,490 people infected, 30 dead
(Recasts with latest WHO toll, comments on Europe infections)
By Stephanie Nebehay and Laura MacInnis
GENEVA, May 5 (Reuters) -
The H1N1 flu is not spreading in a sustained way outside of North America, despite relatively large numbers of confirmed infections in Spain and Britain, a senior World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday.
Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, told a news conference that the United Nations agency would wait to see evidence that the new virus is propagating within communities outside North America before looking to declare a full pandemic.
"We do not feel that we are seeing that right now," he said.
The alert level is currently at 5 on a scale of 1 to 6, meaning that a pandemic is "imminent."
Fukuda said most infections reported in Europe and Asia have been directly linked to travel to Mexico, the epicentre of the disease that has infected at least 1,490 people in 21 countries, including 54 in Spain and 18 in Britain.
Asked about those clusters, he said: "Right now we don't believe that we are seeing community transmission in the same way that we are seeing community transmission in the United States or Mexico."
"In Spain the cases are very closely related to travel. In the United Kingdom there is infection going on in schools related to travel, but again, when we talk about communtiy transmission what we are looking for is transmission not just in institutions but out in the broader community."
TAMIFLU
The emergency committee that recommends changes to the WHO pandemic alert level, which was raised last week in two steps from 3 to 5, is not currently scheduled to meet.
Young adults seem to have caught H1N1 flu more often than other age brackets, perhaps because they made up the bulk of people who travelled to Mexico and became exposed to the disease there, Fukuda said. Or it could be that older people have some form of immunity from an earlier infection.
He said men and women appeared equally prone to the virus, which according to the United Nations agency's latest count has infected 1,490 people and killed 30, all but one in Mexico.
"In general the bulk of infections are occcuring in younger people. This is often in the age range of people in their mid-20s," he told a news briefing at the WHO's headquarters.
Public health experts are trying to fill gaps in scientific knowledge about the new virus, which is a genetic mix of two swine flus with some genetic pieces from human and bird flu.
The more than 150 scientists who participated in a "virtual meeting" organised by the WHO on Tuesday discussed the infection patterns of the virus strain and also shared views on its severity and incubation period, Fukuda said.
A full report of their teleconference will be made public within days.
The WHO began on Tuesday to dispatch 2.4 million treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu, proven effective against the H1N1 flu, to 72 countries including Mexico. [nL5636466]
The Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG <rog.vx> donated the stockpiles to the WHO several years ago for use in a possible influenza pandemic. Shipments will be made from "three hubs" -- Switzerland, the U.S. state of Maryland, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said.
WHO laboratories have also confirmed non-fatal H1N1 flu infections in 19 countries: Austria, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, and Switzerland.
Its toll lags national reports but is considered more scientifically secure, as it reflects sophisticated tests carried out in its global network of laboratories.
(For more Reuters stories on swine flu, click on [nFLU])
(For more Reuters swine flu coverage, please click here: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/swineflu )
(For WHO information on swine flu, go to: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html )
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</rog.vx>
<cite cite="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L5689687.htm">Reuters AlertNet - Spain and Britain in focus of WHO flu monitoring</cite>05 May 2009 17:14:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
* No sign of sustained H1N1 flu spread outside North America
* Scientists try to fill gaps in knowledge about new virus
* WHO says at least 1,490 people infected, 30 dead
(Recasts with latest WHO toll, comments on Europe infections)
By Stephanie Nebehay and Laura MacInnis
GENEVA, May 5 (Reuters) -
The H1N1 flu is not spreading in a sustained way outside of North America, despite relatively large numbers of confirmed infections in Spain and Britain, a senior World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday.
Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, told a news conference that the United Nations agency would wait to see evidence that the new virus is propagating within communities outside North America before looking to declare a full pandemic.
"We do not feel that we are seeing that right now," he said.
The alert level is currently at 5 on a scale of 1 to 6, meaning that a pandemic is "imminent."
Fukuda said most infections reported in Europe and Asia have been directly linked to travel to Mexico, the epicentre of the disease that has infected at least 1,490 people in 21 countries, including 54 in Spain and 18 in Britain.
Asked about those clusters, he said: "Right now we don't believe that we are seeing community transmission in the same way that we are seeing community transmission in the United States or Mexico."
"In Spain the cases are very closely related to travel. In the United Kingdom there is infection going on in schools related to travel, but again, when we talk about communtiy transmission what we are looking for is transmission not just in institutions but out in the broader community."
TAMIFLU
The emergency committee that recommends changes to the WHO pandemic alert level, which was raised last week in two steps from 3 to 5, is not currently scheduled to meet.
Young adults seem to have caught H1N1 flu more often than other age brackets, perhaps because they made up the bulk of people who travelled to Mexico and became exposed to the disease there, Fukuda said. Or it could be that older people have some form of immunity from an earlier infection.
He said men and women appeared equally prone to the virus, which according to the United Nations agency's latest count has infected 1,490 people and killed 30, all but one in Mexico.
"In general the bulk of infections are occcuring in younger people. This is often in the age range of people in their mid-20s," he told a news briefing at the WHO's headquarters.
Public health experts are trying to fill gaps in scientific knowledge about the new virus, which is a genetic mix of two swine flus with some genetic pieces from human and bird flu.
The more than 150 scientists who participated in a "virtual meeting" organised by the WHO on Tuesday discussed the infection patterns of the virus strain and also shared views on its severity and incubation period, Fukuda said.
A full report of their teleconference will be made public within days.
The WHO began on Tuesday to dispatch 2.4 million treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu, proven effective against the H1N1 flu, to 72 countries including Mexico. [nL5636466]
The Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG <rog.vx> donated the stockpiles to the WHO several years ago for use in a possible influenza pandemic. Shipments will be made from "three hubs" -- Switzerland, the U.S. state of Maryland, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said.
WHO laboratories have also confirmed non-fatal H1N1 flu infections in 19 countries: Austria, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong (China), Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, and Switzerland.
Its toll lags national reports but is considered more scientifically secure, as it reflects sophisticated tests carried out in its global network of laboratories.
(For more Reuters stories on swine flu, click on [nFLU])
(For more Reuters swine flu coverage, please click here: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/swineflu )
(For WHO information on swine flu, go to: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html )
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</rog.vx>