WHO Not Yet Ready to Call Swine Flu Full-Fledged Pandemic

WHO Not Yet Ready to Call Swine Flu Full-Fledged Pandemic

www.foxnews.com

Several countries including Britain, Japan and China had urged the U.N. health agency to change how it decides to raise the alert level.

WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan says the swine flu epidemic is in "a grace period" with the WHO alert remaining at phase 5 out of a possible six for the last month. She told the WHO annual assembly on Monday that no one can say how long this period will last.

Chan says the danger now is that the swine flu virus could mix with other flu strains and become more dangerous.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What in the world, there were countries already calling for the level to be raised to 6?

I wonder what would have happened if WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan had agreed to raise the pandemic level to 6, as apparently some governments such as Britain, Japan and China had urge to do so.

Would Martial Law have been implemented under the highest pandemic threat level 6?

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

interesting that Mexico , the alledged start point reduced the amount of `suspected cases` from 100 > 22> 10>6 and is now `swine flu` free


thats IF it really started there.

BTW, here is a very interesting part of that article.

Meanwhile, officials from Britain, Japan and China believe the WHO's current system for alerting the world of a potential pandemic focuses too much on how widespread the disease has become without regard to its severity.

Some member nations are anxious to avoid having the agency declare a swine flu pandemic, because the ramifications of that scientific decision could be very costly and politically charged.

"We need to give you and your team more flexibility as to whether we move to phase 6," British Health Secretary Alan Johnson told the WHO Monday.

Japan also called for changes in WHO's system, which would move to pandemic if the virus starts to be transmitted among people outside schools, hospitals and other institutions where viruses typically pass quickly.

"It's certainly something we will look at very closely," Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's flu chief, said of the proposal.

So far, the United States was noncommittal on the issue. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told The Associated Press she wanted more information on the proposal before taking a position, but that she was impressed how many countries supported it.

So certain countries want the level pandemic threat to be raise to 6 if the virus is contacted by people outside schools, hospitals and other institutions, but hasn't this already happened in several countries?

Now, imagine if they do raise the pandemic threat level to 6, would that mean that all people with fly-like viruses would be put together, and quarentined? This could very well mean that the pandemic would spread to all those people who don't have the virus, but have flu-like viruses, or are even very allergic.

It's all economic - really.

We definitely are in a Level 6 - BUT - if it's called, there'll be HUGE restrictions on international travel and trade. The economy will crash way worse than it is, food supplies will dwindle fast, and there'll be riot in the streets...

Talk about a rock and a hard place.

...But everyone should be aware that we are indeen in a pandemic, and it WILL get worse. Much worse.

- sofi

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