UN close to declaring swine flu global pandemic

World health officials are close to announcing today that swine flu has become the first global flu pandemic in 40 years. A disease is classed as a pandemic when it becomes widespread among humans in two regions of the world. It comes after The World Health Organization (WHO) announced an emergency meeting this morning after the number of cases in Australia surged.

On Thursday, Hong Kong said it was closing all its nurseries and primary schools for two weeks after 12 students tested positive for the virus. The declaration would trigger fast-track vaccines production to treat the virus that started in Mexico in April and has now reached 74 countries, infected more than 27,700 people and caused more than 140 deaths, according to latest figures. A total of 797 cases have been confirmed across the UK, with 311 in Scotland. And although most cases have been mild, employers are being warned to prepare for large absences through illness.The UK's preparations are believed to be well-advanced, but government contingency plans and information for the public have assumed the illness would be far more dangerous than has so far proved to be the case.

Margaret Chan, the head of WHO, looked at eight countries with large swine flu outbreaks yesterday to see if a pandemic, or global epidemic, should be declared.
She said she believed there was a pandemic was under way, but wanted clear proof that swine flu was spreading rapidly from person to person outside the Americas before declaring a global epidemic.This would be the first flu pandemic in 41 years: the last was the Hong Kong flu of 1968. That pandemic killed about one million people.If a global outbreak were announced, countries would be likely to set in motion their own strategies. These could mean devoting more money to health services or imposing measures such as quarantines, school closures, travel bans and trade restrictions, some of which WHO opposes.

The WHO's move comes after Australia confirmed more than 1,200 cases - a four-fold increase in a week. The situation had "evolved a lot" in the last few days. The head of the WHO's global influenza programme, Keiji Fukuda, said "We are getting close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation.”Although most sufferers experience regular flu symptoms and make a full recovery, the WHO has confirmed 141 deaths from 27,737 cases.Classifying the virus as a pandemic does not mean it has suddenly become more deadly. But it sends a clear signal to health officials and businesses to continue planning for the possibility of large numbers of people catching the virus.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children