Geneva. The World Health Organisation has called an emergency meeting of experts in Geneva today to discuss the continuing spread of the swine flu virus.
Earlier this week, it indicated it was on the verge of declaring the first global flu pandemic in more than 40 years.
The A(H1N1) strain, which emerged in April in Mexico and the US, has spread widely in places including Australia, Britain, Chile and Japan.
If the virus were to grip an area outside North America the WHO would be forced to move to phase 6 - signifying a full-blown pandemic - from the current phase 5 on the WHO's 6-level pandemic alert scale.
There have been 27,737 cases reported in 74 countries to date, including 141 deaths, according to the WHO's latest tally.
Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, said yesterday that the organisation and 193 member states were working hard to prepare for a pandemic.
They are taking steps like developing vaccines and building up supplies of anti-viral drugs.
The meeting is due to get under way in the Swiss city at 11am Irish time.
Fresh outbreak in Germany
Authorities in Germany have confirmed 27 cases of the H1N1 virus at a school in the western city of Dusseldorf.
The cases, the most concentrated outbreak of the virus so far in the country, were detected at a Japanese school in the city yesterday.
The school has closed until next week and the infected children are now in quarantine...
More at: www.who.int
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© 2009 Nu redakzonu d'magazinu Jurnalu d'Europu (JE)
© 2009 Nu redakzonu d'magazinu Jurnalu d'Europu (JE)
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