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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…