The latest information from the World Health Organization is not encouraging, but far from being disastrous. As of this morning, the WHO (in its Influenza A(H1N1) update 35), indicated there were 11,034 confirmed cases in 41 countries, with 85 deaths. (While I don't wish to undervalue the lives that have been lost, we are very fortunate there have been so few, thus far.)
What this appears to mean is that the current version of the flu is not nearly as deadly or virulent as in other major outbreaks. And while the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, has been pushed to move to the final level, level 6, she continues to say that such a move is not warranted at this time. There are some suggestions Chan may not be strictly following the WHO guidelines for level 6 (as the linked story indicates). However, this may be in keeping with the overall criteria for assessing the severity of a flu outbreak. Her action, moreover, does not stop individual governments from upgrading their own precautions and actions.
Ms. Chan is, in my estimation, trying to strike an effective balance between vigilance and action on one hand, and over-reaction (and panic) on the other. I think she is doing a good job.
Thursday 21 May 2009
2 comments:
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Rob, it's good to know you're keeping tabs on this phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteI'd only be concerned if the Swine flu stops spreading and is out of the news for a while then mutates and comes back as it did in 1918. We are fortunate enough now to have a host of antibiotics that weren't around in 1918. We did have one death from the bug here but the man who died had an underlying heart condition.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to wash your hands and cover your sneezes and coughs.