News & Perspective

Pandemic officially a year old Today marks the passage of a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic of H1N1 influenza. WHO Director Margaret Chan declared phase 6 on Jun 11, 2009, about 7 weeks after the virus had surfaced. The WHO hesitated to take the step because of concern that it would cause undue alarm, given that H5N1 avian flu had led the public to associate "pandemic" with high death rates.

(CIDRAP News) – Low levels of flu activity across the United States resemble a summer pattern, while globally only sporadic pandemic flu activity is occurring with the most active areas in parts of the Caribbean and Central America, according to updates today.

(CIDRAP News) – Though pandemic flu activity stayed stable in most parts of the world, Chile is reporting new detections of the pandemic virus in at least three regions in advance of the start of its flu season, with other hot spots occurring in Bangladesh and parts of Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.