Poor Countries 'Far From Ready' For Flu Pandemic.

"Africa is 'far from being ready' for a pandemic of H1N1 flu, and developing countries in Asia and Latin America will need help accessing life-saving drugs and vaccines, top health officials said on Monday. Addressing the World Health Organization's annual congress... Nigeria's delegate said African countries would face major difficulties responding to an outbreak of H1N1 flu, which has caused mild symptoms in most patients but may be especially threatening to people with HIV/AIDS and other diseases...." [Reuters/Factiva]

Xinhua adds that "...international cooperation must be carried out for a global response to the current A/H1N1 influenza outbreak, Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu said Monday.... Chen also called for more international support for developing countries' health sector. 'The implementation of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has made important progress, but great challenges sill lie ahead,' he told delegates at the meeting. 'The MDGs are strong commitments made by governments around the world, and the shared responsibility for the whole international community,' he added...." [Xinhua/Factiva]

FT reports that "...vaccine manufacturers will hold talks with public health officials Tuesday to discuss price discounts and unprecedented joint manufacturing arrangements to help limit the effects of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in poorer countries. In a meeting with WHO Director-General Margaret Chan representatives from GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, Baxter and other vaccine producers will seek clarity on regulation and funding as they debate how best to respond to the virus...." [Financial Times/Factiva]

INFLUENZA A(H1N1) CASES NOW REPORTED IN 33 COUNTRIES, SAYS UN HEALTH AGENCY

INFLUENZA A(H1N1) CASES NOW REPORTED IN 33 COUNTRIES, SAYS UN HEALTH AGENCY
New York, May 13 2009 7:00PM
The United Nations World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html">WHO) said today that 33 countries have reported 5,728 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection as of today, with Cuba, Finland and Thailand the latest to join the list.

Mexico has reported 2,059 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 56 deaths, while the United States has reported 3,009 cases, including three deaths.

In addition, Cuba, Finland and Thailand have now been added to the list of countries that have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths.

Dr. Sylvie Briand of WHO's Global Influenza Programme told reporters in Geneva that several things about the virus are already known, including that the virus transmits easily and that most of the cases are mild and don't require treatment.

"However, we know also that there will be severe cases in people with underlying conditions, but also probably in young, healthy adults," she added.

"What we are trying to do at the moment is gather as much information as possible on the virus and to provide this information to countries so that they can assess their level of vulnerability and then put in place interventions that are needed to fight this disease," Dr. Briand stated.
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Interview: Rapid Support Needed to Contain a Possible Pandemic.

In an interview with Kyodo News about Influenza A, World Bank Development Committee Executive Secretary Kiyoshi Kodera said, "... 'There are sufficient amounts of therapeutic medication of Tamiflu worldwide, but they are mostly in developed countries. The World Bank can play an important role to provide rapid support in case of outbreak in developing countries... [In the case of the $200 million fast-disbursing assistance to Mexico,] the Bank promptly made a decision and coordinated with the Government of Mexico. The Bank has accumulated the experiences of the response to SARS and Avian Flu. We would like to provide rapid support tailored to each recipient country....

It is hard to estimate the magnitude of [the impact of Influenza A] on the global economy. I am afraid winter is approaching in the southern hemisphere, home to many developing countries in South America, because they will become prone to outbreak in winter. To recover the global economy, we should stay alert to the spread of the influenza to developing countries.'..." [Kyodo News/Factiva]

INFLUENZA A(H1N1) CASES NEARLY DOUBLE OVER WEEKEND – UN HEALTH AGENCY

INFLUENZA A(H1N1) CASES NEARLY DOUBLE OVER WEEKEND – UN HEALTH AGENCY
New York, May 11 2009 5:00PM
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today that the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of the influenza A(H1N1) virus has increased to 4,694 – nearly double the figure reported last Friday – including 53 deaths.

Mexico and the United States top the list of the 30 countries which have reported laboratory-confirmed human cases of the virus so far, according to the latest <"http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html">WHO update. Mexico has reported 1,626 cases with 48 deaths, while the US has reported 2,532 cases, including three deaths.

WHO's pandemic alert level remains at phase 5 – on a six-point warning scale – as it has for the past several days, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's Acting Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment, told a news conference in Geneva.

"Community-level sustained human-to-human transmission has been documented in North America, in Mexico and in the United States most clearly. We do not see clear evidence of sustained community-level transmission going on in other countries yet," he stated.

Dr. Fukuda noted that it is possible that the alert level will go up to phase 6, which would mean that the spread of the virus has become established in another region outside of North America and is spreading at the community level. At the same time, the current situation could stabilize where it is now, or the alert level could even go back down to phase 4 in the future.

The agency said it is mindful of the many travel-related cases that have now been reported from a large number of countries in almost all regions of the world.

WHO is not recommending travel restrictions related to the current outbreak. But individuals who are ill should delay travel plans and returning travellers who fall ill should seek appropriate medical care, the agency noted on its web site.

"This is still unfolding," noted Dr. Fukuda. "We are still evaluating the clinical features, the epidemiology and the spread, and we will continue to evaluate what is the impact on both people and countries."

He added that much of what is going on now reflects the fact that so much planning and preparedness has gone on for the past few years. "I think it is still a confusing situation. We cannot come to you and say we understand everything which is going on.

"But I do believe that if we had not had all of those preparations, if we had not worked so hard to get information out quickly, if countries had not been thinking about what to do in this kind of situation, in fact we would have had much more confusion and in many ways the severity would have been greater," he stated.

"We will continue to work as hard as we can to make sure that countries are as prepared as possible."
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PAUSE IN DEATHS FROM INFLUENZA A(H1N1), INFECTIONS CLIMB TO 2,500 – UN AGENCY

PAUSE IN DEATHS FROM INFLUENZA A(H1N1), INFECTIONS CLIMB TO 2,500 – UN AGENCY
New York, May 8 2009 4:00PM
Although the number of influenza A(H1N1) infections jumped by over 400 worldwide in the last day with two more countries reporting cases of the virus, there were no new deaths from the disease, the United Nations health agency announced today.

The World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html">WHO) reported that as of 16:00 GMT, Brazil and Poland have been added to the list of countries with verified cases of the new flu strain since yesterday morning, with the total number of laboratory confirmed infections rising to 2,500 in 25 countries.

Despite the increase in the number of cases, WHO Global Influenza Programme Director Sylvie Briand noted that the agency's global pandemic alert remains at phase 5 on its six-point warning scale, which means that sustained human-to-human transmission of the disease on a community level is restricted to one of the agency's geographic regions, in this case North America.

"We have new cases. Most of them are imported cases from travellers, returning travellers or close contact of these people," Ms. Briand told reporters at the daily WHO briefing in Geneva.

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told a gathering of Asian health ministers to remain vigilant in monitoring avian flu, H5N1 influenza, in an address to a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok today. She noted that the virus is widespread in poultry in parts of the region and the agency does not know how the infection will behave if spread to other regions.

Paying tribute to the region's leaders for monitoring the virus and largely keeping it under control for five years, Ms. Chan stressed that the world is "better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history."

Ms. Chan noted that avian flu has "conditioned the public to equate an influenza pandemic with very severe disease and high mortality." She explained that such a disease pattern is not inevitable during a pandemic. "On the contrary, it is exceptional."
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INFLUENZA A(H1N1) INFECTIONS TOP 2,000 WITH 44 DEATHS, REPORTS UN AGENCY

INFLUENZA A(H1N1) INFECTIONS TOP 2,000 WITH 44 DEATHS, REPORTS UN AGENCY
New York, May 7 2009 3:00PM
The number of people infected with the influenza A(H1N1) virus has topped 2,000, the United Nations health agency confirmed today, stressing that although symptoms for the vast majority of the cases are mild, there is no room for complacency.

The World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html">WHO) noted that its international pandemic alert remains at phase 5, on a six-level warning scale, as the number of laboratory confirmed cases rises to 2,099 – up by 441 from yesterday – including 44 deaths.

As of 06:00 GMT today, 23 countries reported influenza A(H1N1) infection, with Mexico containing 1,112 cases and 42 deaths, and the United States verifying 642 cases and two deaths.

"We continue to see human-to-human transmission – community level transmission – primarily in North America," said WHO Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda at the agency's daily update in Geneva.

"We are not seeing it yet anywhere else," he said, explaining the decision to maintain the pandemic alert level at phase 5.

Mr. Fukuda warned that the situation is still evolving and "we really don't understand how things are going to go in the future."

Important questions remain over the spread of the flu from the northern hemisphere and whether it will become more dangerous over time than it is now. If the outbreak were to hit pandemic proportions, it would be reasonable to estimate a third of the world's population would be infected, warned Mr. Fukuda.

Even when on an individual basis illness for most people is relatively mild, if the numbers of infected are multiplied on a pandemic scale, the number of deaths will increase, he cautioned.

WHO also reiterated that people have not been infected by the influenza A(H1N1) virus through eating processed pork or other food products derived from pigs.
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Overall Avian Influenza Situation In Bangladesh Stabilized: World Bank

The overall avian influenza situation in Bangladesh has stabilized with significantly less outbreaks, said the World Bank on Thursday. However, the funding agency said Bangladesh remains a high-risk country for avian influenza outbreak. With the detection of first human case of avian influenza in May 2008, Bangladesh has moved into the 'Pandemic Alert Stage,' said the Bank.

AI has posed a serious socioeconomic threat to the poultry industry, potentially affecting about 4-5 million poultry employees, most of whom depend almost exclusively on poultry for their livelihood.

Avian Influenza Preparedness and Response Project, co-financed by the World Bank and the Avian and Human Influenza Trust Fund (AHI TF), started its operation in October 2007. The World Bank provided a $16 million concessionary credit for the project implementation, while AHI TF provided $2 million as grants.