News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Though pandemic flu is circulating at low levels in many parts of the world, Thailand and some West African nations are reporting increased activity, and the virus is being edged out by influenza B in China and other Asian regions, with signs of westward spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia will be the first three countries to receive donated supplies of pandemic H1N1 vaccine funneled through the World Health Organization, the WHO announced today as it cautioned that it's too early to declare the pandemic over.

(CIDRAP News) –Pandemic activity is showing early signs of peaking in some parts of North America, but is on the rise in several European countries as well as those in Central and Eastern Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Citing reports that hospitals and clinics in some countries are being overwhelmed by pandemic influenza cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) today put an exclamation on its advice about the importance of prompt antiviral treatment for high-risk patients.

(CIDRAP News) –An official from the World Health Organization (WHO) today said he expects serious cases and deaths as pandemic flu activity picks up in the Northern Hemisphere, and he warned people not to underestimate the virus, even though illnesses are often mild.

(CIDRAP News) – A group of influenza experts convened by the World Health Organization cautioned today that governments shouldn't stockpile "pre-pandemic" H5N1 influenza vaccines now, because too little is known about the requirements for an effective vaccine.

Jan 6, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – 2005 is likely to go down as the year when avian influenza, powered by a steady rise in human cases and the spread of poultry outbreaks all the way to Eastern Europe, emerged as a high-profile global health issue.

When 2005 dawned, only 45 human cases of H5N1 avian flu, including 32 deaths, had been counted by the World Health Organization (WHO). All of those were in Vietnam and Thailand.