News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Lapses in health measures during the second season that the 2009 H1N1 flu virus circulated in England probably contributed to a heavier disease burden—marked by more deaths and hospitalizations—than during the 2009-10 pandemic, researchers reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – While donor countries and organizations have responded well to the need for pandemic flu vaccine for developing countries, the level of giving for other pandemic response efforts in needy countries so far has fallen short, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a recent report.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization's (WHO's) top influenza expert said today it's too soon to judge whether the H1N1 influenza pandemic has passed its peak, though he acknowledged that cases are dropping in the United States and Canada.

(CIDRAP News) – Canadian researchers reportedly have found as-yet-unpublished evidence that people who had a seasonal flu shot last year incurred a higher risk of H1N1 infection, but US and World Health Organization (WHO) officials say they are not aware of any similar findings elsewhere.

(CIDRAP News) – With so much uncertainty over how broad and severe the next wave of H1N1 influenza could be, now is the time to focus on the two top goals of saving and sustaining lives, Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told business groups today.

(CIDRAP News) – After delaying action for weeks as the novel H1N1 influenza virus took hold in far-flung parts of the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) today declared a full-fledged pandemic, formally recognizing that the virus is becoming a global contagion.

(CIDRAP News) – In response to concerns from various governments about the possible effects of declaring a full-scale influenza pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) will call on outside experts to consider whether to revise the agency's definitions of pandemic alert phases, a WHO official announced today.

Editor's note: Includes two new sections, on phase change considerations and on possible impact.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today raised its official pandemic alert level from the current phase 3 to phase 4 on its 6-phase scale, saying the newly identified swine influenza virus has made a pandemic more likely but not inevitable.

Maryn McKennaContributing Writer

(CIDRAP News) – This in-depth article investigates the prospects for development of vaccines to head off the threat of an influenza pandemic posed by the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Its seven parts put advances in vaccine technology in perspective by illuminating the formidable barriers to producing an effective and widely usable vaccine in a short time frame.