News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – In an update on H1N1 influenza activity, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today that 168 countries and territories on all continents have now had cases and that the new virus increasingly dominates the flu landscape.

Jun 3, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – The global novel H1N1 influenza situation is drawing closer to the status of a true pandemic but is not there yet, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) lead spokesman on the issue said today.

"Globally we believe we're in phase 5 but are getting closer to phase 6," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO assistant director-general for health security and the environment, referring to the WHO's pandemic alert phases.