World Health Organization (WHO) had declared a Phase 5 swine flu outbreak
We are now at a pandemic swine flu level 5 . World Health Organization (WHO) had declared a Phase 5 swine flu outbreak. It was the first time the WHO had declared a pandemic swine flu level 5 outbreak (out of six), the second-highest on its threat scale, indicating a pandemic could be imminent.
Global health authorities had warned that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico.
“It really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in Geneva. “We do not have all the answers right now, but we will get them.”
New cases and deaths finally seemed to be leveling off in Mexico, where 160 people have been killed, after an aggressive public health campaign. But the World Health Organization (WHO) said the global threat is nevertheless serious enough to ramp up efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus.
The swine flu virus, a mix of pig, bird and human genes to which people have limited natural immunity, had spread to at least nine countries. In the United States, nearly 100 have been sickened in 11 states.
Eight states closed schools Wednesday, affecting 53,000 students in Texas alone, and President Barack Obama said wider school closings might be necessary to keep crowds from spreading the flu. Mexico has already closed schools nationwide until at least May 6.
“Every American should know that the federal government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus,” Obama said, highlighting his request for $1.5 billion in emergency funding for vaccines.
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