World Health Organization raises swine flu alert level
New rating suggests pandemic imminent
By Nathan Seppa
The World Health Organization announced April 29 that is has raised the alert level for swine flu from Phase 4 to Phase 5, which suggests that a pandemic is imminent.
“That puts countries on high alert for influenza and pneumonia,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan during a press teleconference held from Geneva. Phase 6 denotes a pandemic.
WHO also reported in an earlier briefing April 29 that the spread of swine flu shows no signs of abating. “It’s possible, theoretically, that this could stop for unknown reasons. That’s probably unlikely at this point,” said Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director-general ad interim for health security and environment.