WHO Declaration of Swine Flu Pandemic Appears Imminent

WHO Declaration of Swine Flu Pandemic Appears Imminent

www.forbes.com

A surge in cases of H1N1 swine flu in Australia may tip the balance and cause the World Health Organization to soon declare the first flu pandemic since 1968, agency officials said Tuesday.

Cases in Australia rose by more than 1,000 on Monday, with most occurring in the southern state of Victoria. Rapid spread of the virus in a region beyond North America has been considered a key factor in labeling the outbreak a pandemic.

"We are getting really very close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation," WHO influenza chief Keiji Fukuda said in Geneva.

He said the agency was conce

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As of today it appears they will raise the pandemic level.The document says they are preparing. Preparing for a panic? Getting Homeland Security in place, perhaps.? What’s the waiting game for? Public panic is part of human nature of the unknown. We are already conditioned to a level 5 and H1N1. My concern is the ACTUAL amount of infected people and actual number of deaths. We know everyone isnt being tested. We also know some causes of deaths have been intentionally listed as Respiratory related illnesses. What do you expect will happen when they raise the alert level? I for one will not panic, unless they claim this flu will not stop during the normal flu season and continue on until Fall or later.and my local schools and grocery stores are closed down.

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

WHO Needs to Prepare Before Declaring

Flu Pandemic, Fukuda Says

The World Health Organization is holding off on declaring a flu pandemic while it prepares governments and the public for the announcement, said Keiji Fukuda, the agency’s assistant director-general of health security and environment.
The Geneva-based United Nations health agency wants to educate countries further about the meaning of a pandemic to prevent overreaction, Fukuda said on a conference call with journalists today. Raising the WHO’s six-step pandemic scale to its highest level might cause people who are healthy to flock to hospitals, preventing the sick from getting care, he said.
“We are really working pretty hard to get these messages out to people,” said Fukuda. “We know that we are getting closer probably to a pandemic situation.”

www.bloomberg.com...


The word prepare worries me! Prepare for Martial Law?


[edit on 9-6-2009 by wonderworld]

[edit on 9-6-2009 by wonderworld]

There's at least 400,000 infected by WHO estimates. I'd say between that and ten million is the real number. Any more and we'd be able to actually see people being sick through daily interactions.

I'm not panicking no matter what our government does. Panic shuts us off from our intuitions, which are most needed during times like these. If the who goes to level 6, and the masses panic and storm the shelves, so be it. We're stocked up here for a month or so. Any more than that, then neccessity will show us a way, or else the inevitability of death will consume us.

reply to post by unityemissions


Yes, I agree you have valid points. What bothers me is why Prepare for an annoucement? Just blurt it out. I think they want all Security agencies is full force.

What, exactly, will the announcement of a Pandemic do? I mean, how will it affect us?

I've read the WHO site on the levels and the only thing I can come up with is that it will basically move much of the WHO's current role to state level. Am I understanding this correctly?

So, does this mean that if WHO announces level 6 we are directed to our own State or County's alert level for updates, briefings, and instruction?

I'm so confused as to what to expect. Besides all the "stock up, pull out cash, et.al.", can anyone here explain what restrictions and other measures will be in place? And, what those may be? What are some of the state level restrictions we are likely to see?

We are definitly not getting the correct numbers on the cases of swine flu. For instance, we have had only one case here, and it was in a nurse at the hospital. Now someone I know was in there for pneumonia (she tested negative, or at least was told so) and the next day there were several people on that floor in isolation but of course, privacy prevails so no one knew why. Now common sense would tell anyone that one person in a huge hospital with swine flu isn't the only one. She had to get it from someone else and she had contact with many others as well.

They might issuse a pandemic and we will still never really know how many cases are here in the US.

reply to post by SourGrapes


Most of us agree we are already at a level 6. The annoucement is a little late. They may be preparing FEMA and other emergency organizations before an all out panic. ATS members are much more informed with our news coverage, thank goodness.

Main stream Media is too censored. Why all the preperation. I'm not sure but think we will find out shortly.

Somehow Homeland Security is involved and we know that Obama can declare a National Emergency. this is what worries me, moreso than the flu at times.

reply to post by opal13


I agree we arent even close to getting the proper numbers of infected.

I'll be very mad if they played it down to avoid panic and let our children and employees return to work so the economy doesnt fail.

well I see it more and more everyday here in newcastle Australia when I go to work.... I'm in a major shopping centre and @ least one person a day for the last few weeks has called in with major Flu like symptoms and having up 2 5 days off....

More and more get sic but there seems to be no news about it.... As of yesterday I have started wearing face masks on the bus and if I have to wander through large crowds.... call me paranoid but I like to be healthy

Most recent update at the WHO website [dated 8th June 2009 6:00AM GMT]
73 countries reporting a total of 25,288 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 139 deaths.
Plus since the date of that report (about 48 hours) : an additional 3348 confirmed cases, 14 confirmed deaths
www.who.int...
(shows a complete table breakdown of reported infections by country)

Also World Map of reported infections: www.who.int...


...However - a confirmed laboratory case is one thing but there's no way everyone infected has reported every single case, there's no way that evry person infected was able to get to a doctor or hospital...etc...
400,000 cases? I wouldn't be surprised at all...

reply to post by Disclosure Agent


You are wise not paranoid. Better to keep yourself and family safe!

I would also recommend using sani-wipes on grocery carts, door knobs, public toilet seats, anthing that can transmit a virus.

Good move!!

Actually I just did a bit of googling & there's plenty links to experts quoted as saying the official figures are a huge under-estimate...

Professor Pennington, a bacteriologist at Aberdeen University, said because swine flu was similar to seasonal flu, there would be many more undeclared cases.

"All the experts think that the numbers we've got are a significant underestimate," he said.

"In the United States, they think for every case they know about, every confirmed case, there are 20 other cases out there in the community"

news.bbc.co.uk...

...& from my previous link to the WHO website & current figures for US are approx 15k so then times that by 20 for the underestimate & right there you've got 300,000 cases straight off the bat.

reply to post by moobaawoof


Right! Many dont go to the doctor. The count is much higher. I wonder what we should expect come Fall/Prime time mutated Flu season.

If this thing combines with the bird flu it's very bad news. We know birds land in swine pens so we must consider that birds also carry the virus.

reply to post by Disclosure Agent


I've already thought about getting a face mask & I'm in the UK & we've got nowhere near the same volume of cases as in Oz - I've only heard of one case so far in my local town... this is real stuff kids...

I bet it is already a pandemic & they're holding back the official story until the various world governments can get their act together...scared the masses will go bonkers with panic...probably will...

reply to post by moobaawoof


Youve got it right. First off they dont want a panic. Obama already got Homeland Security on call last month. things are progressing very rapidly.

The delay must be related to security and rioting other than just the flu pandemic.

We already know it's a level 6 it meets all criteria but why the delay? That's my question.

reply to post by wonderworld


I've already heard of reports estimating half the world population might get infected this winter with swine flu... however, that's because swine flu is easily spread but thankfully not deadly in the majority of cases.

Yep - that's the really scary one: if bird flu & swine flu combine...which is highly probable at some point IMO.
Pigs are the mixing pot for flu viruses & can much more readily pass it onto humans.

Swine flu is much more easily spread to & in between humans - but bird flu has a much higher death rate (but never really spread human to human properly compared to swine flu)... you can see where that one's going...

reply to post by moobaawoof


Yes the thought of the swine flu combining with the bird flu is not so far fetched. I thought I heard it was transmitable, swine to human, human to swine, swine to bird and bird to swine. Many different combinations.

Have you heard that?

reply to post by wonderworld


Yes definitely, every combination is easily possible but the pig is the main mixing pot.
Pigs & humans can catch flu off each other relatively easily, all it takes is for all the right ingredients to come together in a pig, whether the bird flu came from an infected bird or human doesn't matter - then for that new strain to get out into the human population again...

A lot of info on wiki:en.wikipedia.org...

In the U.K., according to virologist professor John Oxford, the virus may be 300 times more widespread than health authorities have said...

...Oxford's estimate comes as leading scientists are warning that estimates by the U.K. and other governments on the spread of the disease are "meaningless" and hiding its true extent.

This led other experts to become concerned that the new virus strain could mutate over the coming months. Guan Yi, a leading virologist from the University of Hong Kong, for instance, described the new H1N1 influenza virus as "very unstable", meaning it could mix and swap genetic material when exposed to other viruses. During an interview he said "Both H1N1 and H5N1 are unstable so the chances of them exchanging genetic material are higher, whereas a stable (seasonal flu) virus is less likely to take on genetic material." The H5N1 virus is mostly limited to birds, but in rare cases when it infects humans it has a mortality rate of between 60% to 70%.[128] Experts worry about the emergence of a hybrid of the more virulent Asian-lineage HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) A/H5N1 strain (media labeled "bird flu") with more human-transmissible Influenza A strains such as this novel 2009 swine-origin A/H1N1 strain (media labeled "swine flu"), especially since the H5N1 strain is and has been for years endemic in a variety of wild bird species in countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Egypt.[128]

[edit on 9/6/2009 by moobaawoof]

*good to hear the UK is still fairly ok in regards to the pandemic, I'm coming over to Birmingham to visit family next month and wasn't really too keen to travel through airports with this going around....

again today more people from work havn't come in and numbers of staff has dropped enough for the head office to warrant getting out sourced casuals in to cover people while they are away....

I'm pretty stocked that I don't get colds and flu's at the best of times but I will be doing my up most to built up area's of people for the next months or so....

Typical aswell seeing as i'm meant to be going to Sydney to see 'Current Value' play soon.... lol

since the flu hit the uk i had on my facebook (i hate it that even i have a facebook) "still no swine flu in wales", then about a week ago it's about 25 miles away in caerphilly and now in swansea too.
hmm i should check again for more cases.


good health.