WHO Calls Emergency Meeting

Date: 4/29/2009

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518323,00.html

Source: FOX News

Main Points:

1. The World Health Organization is calling a third emergency meeting of its flu experts in response to a spike in swine flu cases.
2. The panel meeting Wednesday will discuss the current alert level — at phase 4, two levels below the threshold for a full pandemic outbreak.
3. In response to the panel's earlier advice, WHO declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and raised its pandemic alert level, meaning the risk of a global outbreak has jumped.
4. WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the agency's director-general Margaret Chan "has seen a jump in cases and she wants to have that evaluated by the outside experts."
5. He says that does not automatically mean there will be a change in the pandemic alert level. This comes in addition to a WHO scientific review meeting, also on Wednesday.

Comments: Something to keep an eye on. As I mentioned yesterday, phase 5 is around the corner and phase 6 is about 1½ - 2 weeks away in my opinion based on what I have read are the requirements for raising the level to that phase. IMHO (in my humble opinion), we are very close to phase 6, but they, the World Health Organization, do not want the public to panic just yet. Let’s just keep an eye on this for now.

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