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Melbourne World's Swine Flu Capital: WHO Debates Pandemic Definition
Melbourne (AFP) June 6, 2009 Australia's second city of Melbourne has become the "swine flu capital of the world", a report said Saturday, as the country's confirmed tally of the disease soared to 1,009. Some 874 of the infections have been detected in the southern state of Victoria, with most of those cases concentrated in the north and west of the state capital Melbourne, the health department said Saturday. The disease has spread more than 1,000-fold in the past three weeks, hitting schools in the Melbourne area hard and making Victoria the worst affected area on earth per head of population, The Australian newspaper said. "Melbourne is now the swine-flu capital of the world, with the H1N1 virus twice as prevalent in the Victorian population as it is in Mexico, where the pandemic began," the respected daily reported. "With the state's comparatively small population, swine flu occurs in about one in 9,139 Victorians -- more than double the one in 21,860 Mexicans with the virus and triple the one in 27,295 people with swine flu in the US," it added. Australian swine flu cases now represent about 4.5 percent of the 21,940 confirmed cases in 69 countries reported to the World Health Organisation. Health Minister Nicola Roxon said late Friday that swine flu would remain on the rise here for some time. "I would have thought we are not at the halfway point, given that we still don't have an extensive spread in Australia," she told reporters. She said a vaccine was not yet available and all efforts were being directed at containing the disease. "The reason it is a marathon is we will potentially have this disease with us not just through this flu season but a risk of it again in the following year," she said. The UN health agency said Friday it was maintaining the pandemic alert level at five out of six, signalling that a pandemic is "imminent". Several Australian states and territories this week implemented voluntary quarantine measures for children returning from Victoria or the greater Melbourne area to prevent the spread of the disease.
earlier related report "There was broad consensus of the importance of including information on severity in future announcements," the WHO said in a statement following a meeting with flu experts. The panel of independent scientists also provided "advice regarding a number of parameters" that would help the WHO in assessing the severity of the pandemic, it added. WHO Director General Margaret Chan can consult the panel during severe disease outbreaks. The UN health agency reiterated that it was maintaining the pandemic alert level at five out of six, signalling that a pandemic is "imminent." Some 69 countries around the world have reported 21,940 cases to the WHO, according to latest figures on the WHO website. Under the WHO's guidelines, one key criteria for a move to the highest phase six alert would be established community spread in a country outside the first region in which the disease was initially reported, in this case, outside the Americas. Other than geographical spread, WHO officals said last month that they were also looking at the severity of the virus, possible changes in the pattern of illness, its impact on poor countries or circulation in the southern hemisphere where it could mix with seasonal flu. A senior WHO official had said Tuesday that the WHO was examining severity grading of mild-moderate-severe to the pandemic phases. Keiji Fukuda, who is acting assistant director-general also said then that the world was "getting closer" to a swine flu pandemic as the virus shows early signs of spreading locally in countries outside the Americas. "Globally we believe that we are at phase five but are getting closer to phase six," he said then. He cited Australia, Britain, Japan, Spain and Chile in particular as countries where the flu was showing early signs of local spread. Australia's swine flu tally jumped by more than a third to nearly 900 on Thursday. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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US Swine Flu Deaths Top 22: Mexico Toll Reaches 106Washington (AFP) June 4, 2009 The US swine flu death toll reached 22 as one death was reported late Thursday in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania death, as well as deaths in New York and Chicago reported late Wednesday, were not included in the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pennsylvania currently "has 269 confirmed cases and 101 probable cases of illness due to ... read more |
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