The H1N1 pandemic is not yet over although its most intense activity has passed in many parts of the world, the WHO after a review of the flu outbreak by independent experts.
The H1N1 pandemic is not yet over although its most intense activity has passed in many parts of the world, the World Health Organisation after a review of the flu outbreak by independent experts.
The WHO emergency committee, composed of 15 external advisers, said it remained critical for countries to maintain vigilance concerning the pandemic, including necessary public health measures for disease control and surveillance, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a statement.
Chan said that pandemic flu activity was expected to continue, and the committee would meet again by mid-July to review the status of the outbreak once more data from the winter influenza season in the southern hemisphere was available.
WHO experts say that the virus remains a threat to some vulnerable people, notably pregnant women, young children and those with respiratory problems, and such groups would continue to need vaccinations.
The WHO has been accused of exaggerating the dangers of the H1N1 outbreak, which emerged in April last year. Symptoms suffered by most people infected with the virus, have been mild. But WHO experts fear it could spread easily among people if it were to mutate into a more dangerous or lethal form.
Laboratory tests have confirmed more than 18,000 deaths from H1N1 infection, according to WHO figures, but the actual global death toll is much higher and will take at least a year after the pandemic ends to establish. The virus is currently most active in parts of the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, and activity in Africa is low or sporadic.
The emergency committee has been waiting for signs of how the virus is developing in the southern hemisphere winter before making a full pronouncement on its state.
The WHO emergency committee, composed of 15 external advisers, said it remained critical for countries to maintain vigilance concerning the pandemic, including necessary public health measures for disease control and surveillance, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a statement.
Chan said that pandemic flu activity was expected to continue, and the committee would meet again by mid-July to review the status of the outbreak once more data from the winter influenza season in the southern hemisphere was available.
WHO experts say that the virus remains a threat to some vulnerable people, notably pregnant women, young children and those with respiratory problems, and such groups would continue to need vaccinations.
The WHO has been accused of exaggerating the dangers of the H1N1 outbreak, which emerged in April last year. Symptoms suffered by most people infected with the virus, have been mild. But WHO experts fear it could spread easily among people if it were to mutate into a more dangerous or lethal form.
Laboratory tests have confirmed more than 18,000 deaths from H1N1 infection, according to WHO figures, but the actual global death toll is much higher and will take at least a year after the pandemic ends to establish. The virus is currently most active in parts of the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, and activity in Africa is low or sporadic.
The emergency committee has been waiting for signs of how the virus is developing in the southern hemisphere winter before making a full pronouncement on its state.
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