WHO says flu is unstoppable

Beijing News.Net
Friday 3rd July, 2009

The World Health Organization head, Margaret Chan, has addressed a meeting in Mexico to say that the spread of the H1N1 swine flu virus worldwide is now unstoppable.

While she said most H1N1 cases are mild, with many people recovering unaided, some countries are advising the WHO of massive numbers of sufferers.

As the summit opened, the UK alone projected more than 100,000 new cases of H1N1 a day by the end of the summer.

With the peak of the flu season approaching in the southern hemisphere, some countries in South America have already declared a public health emergency.

Ms Chan told the conference: "With well over 100 countries reporting cases, once a fully fit pandemic virus emerges, its further international spread is unstoppable."

She stressed that while the overwhelming majority of patients experienced mild symptoms and made a full recovery within a week, there were exceptions, such as pregnant women and people with underlying health problems.

She said these people were at higher risk from complications from the virus.

Leaders and experts from 50 countries are in Cancun, Mexico for the two-day meeting to discuss strategies for fighting the virus.

Email this story to a friend

Have your say on this story