Cancun, Mexico - At least 337 people have died around the
world from swine flu, which has infected 80,000 people in 121
countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.
Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, announced the
agency's updated figures at a two-day summit on influenza in the
Mexican resort city of Cancun.
'We need to watch very carefully what happens during the current
winter season in the southern hemisphere,' WHO Director-General
Margaret Chan said Thursday in opening remarks.
'For reasons that are not well understood, some deaths are
occurring in perfectly healthy young people. Moreover, some patients
experience a very rapid clinical deterioration.'
Fukuda said most of the fatalities occurred in young people with
prior health problems, but he warned that aspects of the virus might
yet change, including its severity, clinical patterns and the
structure of the virus.
'The future course remains fundamentally uncertain in many
aspects,' he said.
In this context, Fukuda stressed that 'flexibility' was vital as
the international health community prepares for the evolution of the
pandemic.
The United States, Mexico and Canada continue to have the highest
numbers of infections, with figures rising rapidly in Argentina.
Chan thanked the three North American countries - Mexico was the
epicentre of the outbreak in April - for their openness in quickly
letting the world know of the new virus, and stressed that closing
borders made no sense to combat the spread of the flu.
Mexico gave the world early warning, Chan said, becoming a model
for other countries in similar circumstances.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who was in attendance, said
that his government responded appropriately to the then-mysterious
virus.
'Information is the cornerstone for the management of a health
crisis,' he said.
In contrast, Mirta Roses, head of the Pan-American Health
Organization (PAHO), on Thursday rebuked her native Argentina for
delaying attention on the virus due to Sunday's midterm legislative
elections.
'I think that one of the unfortunate situations in Argentina has
been a combination, a cocktail that we epidemiologists do not
recommend, which is mixing pandemics with electoral processes,' Roses
said.
According to the PAHO official, 'almost 90 per cent of media
attention' was focused on the election, so the population was
inadequately informed of the ongoing health risks. The new virus has
claimed 45 lives in Argentina, according to media reports.
Chan said that WHO would set aside 150 million doses of the
potential vaccine against the A(H1N1) flu virus to be given to
developing countries.
She noted that it remained unknown when a safe vaccine might be
available. The first vaccine could be ready in August, Chan said,
though recommendations for use might take longer.
Ministers from 43 countries and officials from various
multilateral agencies were at the summit at the Moon Palace Hotel in
Cancun, to discuss the lessons learned from the flu pandemic and the
need for a vaccine.
USA
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