GENEVA — The World Health Organization is gearing up to declare a swine flu pandemic, a move that could trigger both the large-scale production of vaccines and questions about why the step was delayed.
On Wednesday, WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan quizzed eight countries with large swine flu outbreaks to see if a pandemic, or global epidemic, should be declared. The agency then announced that an emergency meeting would be held today.
The world is in phase 5 of WHO’s pandemic alert scale, meaning a global outbreak is imminent. Moving to phase 6, the highest level, means a pandemic has begun. If that declaration is made, it will push drugmakers to fast-track production of a swine flu vaccine.
It would be the first flu pandemic in 41 years, since the Hong Kong flu of 1968.
WHO said announcing a pandemic would not mean the situation was worsening, since no mutations have been detected.
by the associated press
No comments:
Post a Comment