News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Many Northern Hemisphere countries, from North America to temperate Asia, have seen rising flu activity in recent weeks, while cases ebbed or remained scarce in most of the rest of the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity jumped in the United States last week along with other Northern Hemisphere locations, and an official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said it's not yet clear if this season will make its mark as a bad one.

(CIDRAP News) – In its review of summer flu activity in the United States and across the globe today, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that patterns, which included a few clusters and sporadic illness, were typical.

(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 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.

WHO's novel H1N1 flu case count tops 4,500The global number of people infected with the novel H1N1 influenza (swine flu) virus rose to 4,694 from 30 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today. The count includes 1,626 cases and 48 deaths in Mexico and the 2,532 cases and 3 deaths reported in the United States as of yesterday. Canada has reported 284 cases and one death. [WHO update 25]

The World Health Organization (WHO) listed a global total of 2,500 confirmed cases of swine influenza H1N1 in 25 countries today. That total included 1,204 cases in Mexico, 896 cases in the United States (yesterday's number), 214 in Canada, 88 in Spain, and 34 in the United Kingdom. The death toll remains at 44, including 42 in Mexico and 2 in the United States. [WHO update 22]