WHO: Swine flu pandemic is over
Source: Agencies |
August 11, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE World Health Organization declared the swine flu pandemic officially over yesterday, months after many national authorities started canceling vaccine orders and shutting down hotlines as the disease ebbed from the headlines.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the organization's emergency committee of top flu experts advised her that the pandemic had "largely run its course" and the world is no longer in phase six, the highest influenza alert level.
"I fully agree with the committee's advice," Chan said.
The virus has now entered the "post-pandemic" phase, meaning disease activity around the world has returned to levels usually seen for seasonal influenza, she said.
But Chan cautioned against complacency, saying that even though hospitalizations and deaths have dropped sharply, countries should still keep a watchful eye for unusual patterns of infection and mutations that might render existing vaccines and antiviral drugs ineffective.
"It is likely that the virus will continue to cause serious disease in younger age groups," she said, urging high-risk groups such as pregnant women to continue seeking vaccination.
At least 18,449 people have died worldwide since the outbreak began in April 2009. WHO said last week that the true figure is likely to be higher, but the organization's flu chief, Keiji Fukuda, said a final number won't be known for some months.
Still, lab-confirmed deaths globally increased by only about 300 in the past two months and many countries have long since closed the chapter on swine flu.
Governments in Europe and North America started dumping vaccines earlier this year after finding their stocks were full of unused and expiring supplies.
Health authorities in Britain shut down their pandemic flu hotline in February and canceled vaccine orders by a third back in April as it became clear the pandemic strain would be less dangerous than feared. Worst-case scenarios had predicted up to 65,000 deaths in Britain. In the end there were 457 confirmed deaths from swine flu.
In Germany, authorities are meeting later this week to discuss who is going to pick up the bill for the 34 million doses of vaccines that were ordered and mostly not used.
A report by the French Senate published last month criticized WHO's handling of the pandemic, in particularly what it described as an "overestimation" of the risk and insufficient transparency about links between WHO experts and the pharmaceutical industry.
WHO chief Chan insisted that declaring swine flu a pandemic had been the right decision, based on the internationally agreed rules that existed at the time.
"We have been aided by pure good luck," she said, adding that if the virus had mutated then the death rate could have been much higher.
But she acknowledged that changes may be made to the way WHO defines pandemics.
"We need to review the phases, including the severity," she said.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the organization's emergency committee of top flu experts advised her that the pandemic had "largely run its course" and the world is no longer in phase six, the highest influenza alert level.
"I fully agree with the committee's advice," Chan said.
The virus has now entered the "post-pandemic" phase, meaning disease activity around the world has returned to levels usually seen for seasonal influenza, she said.
But Chan cautioned against complacency, saying that even though hospitalizations and deaths have dropped sharply, countries should still keep a watchful eye for unusual patterns of infection and mutations that might render existing vaccines and antiviral drugs ineffective.
"It is likely that the virus will continue to cause serious disease in younger age groups," she said, urging high-risk groups such as pregnant women to continue seeking vaccination.
At least 18,449 people have died worldwide since the outbreak began in April 2009. WHO said last week that the true figure is likely to be higher, but the organization's flu chief, Keiji Fukuda, said a final number won't be known for some months.
Still, lab-confirmed deaths globally increased by only about 300 in the past two months and many countries have long since closed the chapter on swine flu.
Governments in Europe and North America started dumping vaccines earlier this year after finding their stocks were full of unused and expiring supplies.
Health authorities in Britain shut down their pandemic flu hotline in February and canceled vaccine orders by a third back in April as it became clear the pandemic strain would be less dangerous than feared. Worst-case scenarios had predicted up to 65,000 deaths in Britain. In the end there were 457 confirmed deaths from swine flu.
In Germany, authorities are meeting later this week to discuss who is going to pick up the bill for the 34 million doses of vaccines that were ordered and mostly not used.
A report by the French Senate published last month criticized WHO's handling of the pandemic, in particularly what it described as an "overestimation" of the risk and insufficient transparency about links between WHO experts and the pharmaceutical industry.
WHO chief Chan insisted that declaring swine flu a pandemic had been the right decision, based on the internationally agreed rules that existed at the time.
"We have been aided by pure good luck," she said, adding that if the virus had mutated then the death rate could have been much higher.
But she acknowledged that changes may be made to the way WHO defines pandemics.
"We need to review the phases, including the severity," she said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
