Yesterday april 27 the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the pandemic level from 3 to 4.
Dr Margaret Chan is the Director-General of WHO, appointed by the World Health Assembly on 9 November 2006.Before being appointed Director-General, Dr Chan was WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases as well as Representative of the Director-General for Pandemic Influenza.
US authorities are to tell the World Health Organization (WHO) whether the new swine flu virus has spread significantly between humans within the country. If the spread is significant it may indicate the beginnings of a flu pandemic.
What is Swaine Flu?
Is a disease of pigs. It is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by one of many Influenza A viruses. Approximately 1% to 4% of pigs that get swine flu die from it. It is spread among pigs by direct and indirect contact, aerosols, and from pigs that are infected but do not have symptoms. In many parts of the world pigs are vaccinated against swine flu. Most commonly, swine flu is of the H1N1 influenza subtype. However, they can sometimes come from the other types, such as H1N2, H3N1, and H3N2. The current outbreak of swine flu that has infected humans is of the H1N1 type - this type is not as dangerous as some others.
