The World Health Organization is set to declare H1N1 virus as the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, triggering heightened health measures in the WHO’s 193 countries.
Flu experts were expected to recommend moving to the top phase 6 on the organization’s six-point scale. That would reflect the fact that the disease, also known as swine flu, was spreading geographically.
Britain’s Health Protection Agency chairman, David Heymann, said that the virus was tried to contain by countries through measures such as school closure. This procedure has extended the precious time needed to prepare for a full-blown pandemic. Read more…
GENEVA (AFP) – – The World Health Organisation on Friday began consulting its emergency committee of flu experts on the severity of the swine flu virus and possible travel recommendations.
However, the UN health agency was not expecting to make a decision on whether to declare a fully-fledged swine flu pandemic Friday, a WHO spokeswoman said, even though the body of scientists could recommend that it did so.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the “severity of H1N1 and also to review international health-related measures,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said. Read more…
Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque confirmed that the Philippines is now included in the list of countries with A(H1N1) virus.
A 10 year old girl who flew in with her parents last May 18, 2009 (Monday) was the first case of A(H1N1) in the Philippines said Duque.
The girl was able to pass through the thermal scanner. She started having fever May 19, 2009 with cough and sore throat. Her parents brought the girl to the hospital and after thorough examinations made by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the girl was confirmed to be suffering from the virus. Read more…
HARLINGEN, Texas — This week should have been a joyful time for Judy Trunnell, a 33-year-old teacher who had just given birth to a healthy baby girl. But the friends and relatives rather were mourning her, the first American citizen with swine flu to pass away.
Trunnell passed away after being hospitalized for two weeks. She slipped into a coma, and her baby was delivered by Cesarean section.
She worked with handicapped youngsters as a teacher in the Mercedes Independent School District, approximately 15 miles west of her hometown of Harlingen, a city of around 63,000 near the U.S.-Mexico borderline.
Trunnell passed away early Tuesday after being hospitalized since April 19. She was extremely sick when she was brought to the hospital. Read more…
