WHO names flu pandemic panel of experts

[Theresa42]

WHO names flu pandemic panel of experts
Updated Mon. Sep. 25 2006 1:04 PM ET

Associated Press

The World Health Organization has announced the membership of the panel of experts it will turn to for advice if it believes the threat of a flu pandemic is mounting.

The list of 20 or so international disease experts includes leading avian influenza expert Dr. Robert Webster of St. Jude's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., Dr. Ab Osterhaus, a veterinary virologist at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and Dr. Nancy Cox, director of the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Dr. Theresa Tam, director of the Public Health Agency of Canada's respiratory infections division, is also on the committee, which convened for the first time Monday in Geneva.

The panel's mandate is to advise the director general of the WHO whenever it appears that there has been a change in the risk of a flu pandemic emerging. This group would review the evidence on patterns of infection and possible human-to-human spread and issue a recommendation on whether it believes it is time to change the pandemic staging level.

The final decision on whether to move up - or down - the pandemic alert ladder rests with the director general.

The WHO's pandemic phasing document is a six-step scale from no known pandemic threat (Phase 1) to a full-blown pandemic (Phase 6). The WHO's current assessment is that the world is in Phase 3 - a novel flu virus that has pandemic potential is causing sporadic human cases but only very limited human-to-human spread.

Evidence of some clustering of cases of human infections of H5N1 avian flu virus in Indonesia and elsewhere this year has led to questions from some quarters about whether the WHO ought to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 4, characterized as "evidence of increased human-to-human transmission."

This new committee would be the body that would advise on that issue, if asked. But Monday's meeting was not called for that purpose, WHO officials have said. Instead, this meeting is a chance for the experts to hammer out a procedural framework for future deliberations.

Membership is drawn from the six administrative regions of the World Health Organization: Africa, the Americas, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific.

Other members of the task force include Dr. Maria Zambon from Britain's public health agency; Dr. Martin Cetron, head of the global migration and quarantine division at the CDC; Masato Tashiro, director of Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases; and Russian virologist Dmitri Lvov.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...25/who_flu_060925/20060925?hub=Health&s_name=

 

[Snowy Owl]

WHO-sponsored pandemic flu task force holds first meeting in Geneva

WHO-sponsored pandemic flu task force holds first meeting in Geneva

WHO-sponsored pandemic flu task force holds first meeting in Geneva

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/26/europe/EU_MED_UN_Pandemic_Task_Force.php


LONDON Members of a pandemic flu task force discussed how they might advise the World Health Organization if a global outbreak strikes, in the group's first meeting since being formed by the WHO, officials said Tuesday.
Sixteen of the 21 experts on the Ad Hoc Influenza Pandemic Task Force met in Geneva on Monday to define their role if a pandemic flu strain was identified, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said. However, representatives from China, Thailand and Indonesia ? three countries hit hard by recent bird flu outbreaks ? were noticeably absent.
"We discussed our mandate and what our responsibilities would be," including advising the WHO director-general on emergencies, said task force member Dr. Albert Osterhaus, head of virology at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. He described the group as an "outbreak management team" for providing independent risk assessments and advising the WHO on possible measures to be taken.
Responses could include a rapid containment effort in the early stages of a pandemic, alerting governments to risk and accelerating vaccine production.
The task force also can give guidance on issues such as sharing between laboratories of virus specimens being monitored or used to make vaccines, said Dr. David Heymann, WHO's top flu official.
The H5N1 bird flu strain has been of major concern to health officials, as 146 people have died in the past year, though most were likely infected directly by sick birds.
Since the strain first appeared in Asia on a wide scale in 2003, it has decimated Asian poultry stocks and has spread to several European countries and parts of Africa.
The task force, which only would be called in emergencies, has a mandate to work until June 15, when WHO's revised International Health Regulations come into effect. Most governments have adopted the regulations on preventing and responding to infectious disease threats.
"How often we meet will be determined by the evolving avian influenza situation," Osterhaus said, "but of course, we hope it's as little as possible."
After June 15, the WHO will consult emergency committees set up under the new regulations and drawn from a roster of experts on different diseases.

 

[ukcz]

Re: WHO-sponsored pandemic flu task force holds first meeting in Geneva

Re: WHO-sponsored pandemic flu task force holds first meeting in Geneva

"How often we meet will be determined by the evolving avian influenza situation," Osterhaus said, "but of course, we hope it's as little as possible."
After June 15, the WHO will consult emergency committees set up under the new regulations and drawn from a roster of experts on different diseases.

Do we have a public commitment that every meeting will be announced, or is this to be a 'secret' cabal of experts?

 

[Commonground]

Re: WHO names flu pandemic panel of experts

http://www.mediaindo.co.id/berita.asp?id=112738
On Thursday, September 28 2006 15:36
WHO called on the World shared the Sample of the influenza Virus
Berlin ? MIOL: experts from the Organisation of the Health of the World (WHO) called on all the country in various parts of the world to give the sample of the influenza virus and the genetic series data free, that was believed in was the key to finding the potential vaccine to oppose pandemik bird flu. This approach was recommended by the special WHO team that just about pandemik influenza in Geneva, to last September 26. The team?s 21 members were announced last May to help Director General WHO concerning the technical problem in order to overcomes the fear that the virus H5Ni could attack humankind and resulted in millions of people being killed. David Heymann, the WHO special envoy for talking bird flu that Par the expert was trying to get the proposal concerning the best practice about the system shared the influenza virus and the specimen and the genetic series. Under the system that was developed by WHO, the sample of the virus could be divided between the laboratory freely the cost and each virus candidate must be for the production of the vaccine given to the producer of medicine without the cost also. But, the officials of the health has menunjukan attention in the possibility of several developing countries closing itself to divide virus information H5N1 the animal and humankind. In the meantime several developing countries said they will possibly lose the profit from panten medicine if the data was handed over to the west pharmacy company.