Swine flu now dominant strain
November 6, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE World Health Organization's flu chief said yesterday the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.
In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 percent of the flu viruses being sampled, said Dr Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top flu official.
While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, health officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people under 65 - who are not usually at risk during regular flu seasons.
"We remain quite concerned about the patterns that we're seeing," Fukuda said.
He said the swine flu virus appeared to be fairly stable, and that samples from around the world remained very similar to when the virus was first identified in April.
Regarding the recent surge of cases in Ukraine - which has reported more than 25,000 cases of people with flu-like illness in recent days - Fukuda said the virus appeared no different there than anywhere else.
"We just simply have to understand that influenza can cause outbreaks in very large numbers of people," he said. "Patterns can be quite different from country to country."
Fukuda said the agency was also monitoring the impact of the virus on particularly susceptible populations.
In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 percent of the flu viruses being sampled, said Dr Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top flu official.
While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, health officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people under 65 - who are not usually at risk during regular flu seasons.
"We remain quite concerned about the patterns that we're seeing," Fukuda said.
He said the swine flu virus appeared to be fairly stable, and that samples from around the world remained very similar to when the virus was first identified in April.
Regarding the recent surge of cases in Ukraine - which has reported more than 25,000 cases of people with flu-like illness in recent days - Fukuda said the virus appeared no different there than anywhere else.
"We just simply have to understand that influenza can cause outbreaks in very large numbers of people," he said. "Patterns can be quite different from country to country."
Fukuda said the agency was also monitoring the impact of the virus on particularly susceptible populations.
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