Mild H1N1 Flu "Best News" of Decade

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Mild H1N1 Flu "Best News" of Decade
By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: December 29, 2009
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The "best health news of the decade" was the relatively moderate impact of the H1N1 pandemic flu, according to Margaret Chan, MD, director of the World Health Organization.

But, Chan said in a year-end news conference, it's too early to declare victory over the H1N1 pandemic, which has sickened hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and caused more than 11,500 laboratory-confirmed deaths.

The peak appears to have passed in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in some European nations, but there is still "intense influenza activity" in other nations, such as India and Egypt, she said.

"It is too premature and too early to say we have come to an end of the pandemic influenza worldwide," she said, noting that it would be "prudent" to monitor the pandemic for the next six to 12 months.

Pandemic planning over the previous five years paid dividends that allowed the world to cope with the virus, Chan said, although it "exposed some holes" in health systems.

"We're much better prepared now," she said, even though the pandemic has caused stresses in emergency rooms and intensive care units around the world.

On the other hand, Chan said, "the world is not prepared" even now for a pandemic driven by a more toxic virus, such as the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu strain.

For most of the past decade, flu experts had feared that that deadly strain would make the jump into humans and cause the next pandemic, but were surprised when the milder H1N1 strain emerged instead.

Chan noted that the international community has made strides in working together and in finding money for health issues, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases.

But, she said, "that progress is fragile" and could easily be halted or even reversed by a severe pandemic.

"I just wish the world does not have to deal with a pandemic ignited by a much more toxic and deadly virus, the H5N1 avian flu," Chan said.

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