http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_pandemic_phase6_20090611/en/index.html

11 June, 2009

World now at the start of 2009 influenza pandemic
Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

Ladies and gentlemen,

In late April, WHO announced the emergence of a novel influenza A virus.

This particular H1N1 strain has not circulated previously in humans. The virus is entirely new.

The virus is contagious, spreading easily from one person to another, and from one country to another. As of today, nearly 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported in 74 countries.

This is only part of the picture. With few exceptions, countries with large numbers of cases are those with good surveillance and testing procedures in place.

Spread in several countries can no longer be traced to clearly-defined chains of human-to-human transmission. Further spread is considered inevitable.

I have conferred with leading influenza experts, virologists, and public health officials. In line with procedures set out in the International Health Regulations, I have sought guidance and advice from an Emergency Committee established for this purpose.

On the basis of available evidence, and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met.

I have therefore decided to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 5 to phase 6.

The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic.

This is not true. I keep getting the same stupid email.

This flu is no worse than the regular flu. People die of the flu every single year.

The link is from the WHO site.
Go to the link to read the rest of the announcement.
I only posted the first portion.

I guess I said this wrong. It is no more serious than the regular flu outbreaks we have every year. Flu kills. It always has and it always will.

Enlighten me.
Why, if it's no worse than a regular flu, would they raise the level on this particular strain?

Influenza A virus subtype H1N1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from H1N1)

Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, also known as A(H1N1), is a subtype of influenzavirus A and the most common cause of influenza (flu) in humans. Some strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans, including the strain(s) responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic which killed 50-100 million people worldwide. Less virulent H1N1 strains still exist in the wild today, worldwide, causing a small fraction of all influenza-like illness and a large fraction of all seasonal influenza. H1N1 strains caused roughly half of all flu infections in 2006.[1] Other strains of H1N1 are endemic in pigs (swine influenza) and in birds (avian influenza).

In March to June of 2009, thousands of laboratory-confirmed infections and a number of deaths were caused by an outbreak of a new strain of H1N1.[2]




Influenza A virus strains are assigned an H number and an N number based on which forms of these two proteins the strain contains. There are 16 H and 9 N subtypes known in birds, but only H 1, 2 and 3, and N 1 and 2 are commonly found in humans.[4]


[edit] Spanish flu
Main article: 1918 flu pandemic
The Spanish flu, also known as La Gripe Española, or La Pesadilla, was an unusually severe and deadly strain of avian influenza, a viral infectious disease, that killed some 50 million to 100 million people worldwide over about a year in 1918 and 1919. It is thought to be one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. It was caused by the H1N1 type of influenza virus.[5]

The Spanish flu caused an unusual number of deaths because it may have caused a cytokine storm in the body.[6][7] (The recent epidemic of bird flu, also an Influenza A virus, had a similar effect.)[8] The Spanish flu virus infected lung cells, leading to overstimulation of the immune system via release of cytokines into the lung tissue. This leads to extensive leukocyte migration towards the lungs, causing destruction of lung tissue and secretion of liquid into the organ. This makes it difficult for the patient to breathe. In contrast to other pandemics, which mostly kill the old and the very young, the 1918 pandemic killed unusual numbers of young adults, which may have been due to their healthy immune systems being able to mount a very strong and damaging response to the infection.[3]

The term "Spanish" flu was coined because Spain was at the time the only European country where the press were printing reports of the outbreak, which had killed thousands in the armies fighting the First World War. Other countries suppressed the news in order to protect morale.[9]


[edit] Russian flu
See Influenza A virus subtype H2N2#Russian flu for the 1889–1890 Russian flu
The more recent Russian flu was a 1977–1978 flu epidemic caused by strain Influenza A/USSR/90/77 (H1N1). It infected mostly children and young adults under 23 because a similar strain was prevalent in 1947–57, causing most adults to have substantial immunity. Some have called it a flu pandemic but because it only affected the young it is not considered a true pandemic. The virus was included in the 1978–1979 influenza vaccine.[10][11][12][13]


[edit] 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic

Illustration of influenza antigenic shift.Main article: 2009 flu pandemic
In the 2009 flu pandemic, the virus isolated from patients in the United States was found to be made up of genetic elements from four different flu viruses – North American Mexican influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and swine influenza virus typically found in Asia and Europe – "an unusually mongrelised mix of genetic sequences."[14] This new strain appears to be a result of reassortment of human influenza and swine influenza viruses, in all four different strains of subtype H1N1.

Preliminary genetic characterization found that the hemagglutinin (HA) gene was similar to that of swine flu viruses present in U.S. pigs since 1999, but the neuraminidase (NA) and matrix protein (M) genes resembled versions present in European swine flu isolates. The six genes from American swine flu are themselves mixtures of swine flu, bird flu, and human flu viruses.[15] While viruses with this genetic makeup had not previously been found to be circulating in humans or pigs, there is no formal national surveillance system to determine what viruses are circulating in pigs in the U.S.[16]

On June 11, 2009, the WHO declared an H1N1 pandemic, moving the alert level to phase 6, marking the first global pandemic since 1968.[17]


In another words the flu being marked a pandemic is not that rare or mean that it is more dangerous than regular flu.

I think they are trying to be proactive and see if they can prevent new deaths by scaring folks.

I talked with my doctor about the swine flu thing when it was first out. He said all flu is dangerous because noone knows which strain is coming out each year and it kills every year.

So call avian, call it swine it is still the flu and it will still kill every year.

This is a flu that kills the healthy young (and leaves the sick, vary young and old unscathed most times), can't be tracked due to fast spread, has breached all defenses normally put up to stop the spread and spreads easily from Human to Human. This IS NOT Swine Flue, it's Human Flue with Swine and Avian Flue components that evolved from Swine Flue. So yes ignore it if you want, just consider this, the 1918 pandemic was... N1H1.

36,000 people die from influenza every year, you don't see that splashed on the news paper stands everywhere...

As predicted in 1976. I recieved the shots, and no pandemic occured then.

Who knows. utilize universal precations as in any instance.

Wash your hands as you should, don't touch things in public and put your hands to your face or mouth, don't over use sanitizers and antibiotics and your chances of getting anything are slim. Maintain your immune system and most things won't affect you...

It'll affect you when you have children. They bring things home from school.

Swine Flu Origins Revealed


ScienceDaily (June 13, 2009) — A new analysis of the current swine-origin H1N1 influenza A virus suggests that transmission to humans occurred several months before recognition of the existing outbreak.

The work, published online in Nature June 10, highlights the need for systematic surveillance of influenza in swine, and provides evidence that new genetic elements in swine can result in the emergence of viruses with pandemic potential in humans.

'Using computational methods, developed over the last ten years at Oxford, we were able to reconstruct the origins and timescale of this new pandemic,' said Dr Oliver Pybus of Oxford University's Department of Zoology, an author of the paper. 'Our results show that this strain has been circulating among pigs, possibly among multiple continents, for many years prior to its transmission to humans.'

Dr Pybus, along with Andrew Rambaut from the University of Edinburgh and colleagues, used evolutionary analysis to estimate the timescale of the origins and the early development of the epidemic. They believe that it was derived from several viruses circulating in swine, and that the initial transmission to humans occurred several months before recognition of the outbreak.

The team conclude that 'despite widespread influenza surveillance in humans, the lack of systematic swine surveillance allowed for the undetected persistence and evolution of this potentially pandemic strain for many years.'

The team included researchers from Oxford, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Hong Kong and the University of Arizona.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090613063849.htm

I think that is the way that most things get transfered, but the principle is still the same, good hand washing, even children washing their hands...aggghhh I can't believe I said that!! hhhahaha

And winx, I did have a child, a daughter, but she was taken from me in an accident years ago along with my wife...I do remember those days still..

You know...reading over all the stuff about this influenza, I have to say I had something bad, back in January.

I was coughing like never before, I had a fever and I was so weak, I felt like I couldn't even walk or lift my arms.

I've never been so sick...and previously I was working in NY City for several weeks and there were people who had the same sort of symptoms.

Now, this could have been just a regular influenza outbreak, but who knows.

In the 2009 revision of the phase descriptions, WHO has retained the use of a six-phased approach for easy incorporation of new recommendations and approaches into existing national preparedness and response plans. The grouping and description of pandemic phases have been revised to make them easier to understand, more precise, and based upon observable phenomena. Phases 1–3 correlate with preparedness, including capacity development and response planning activities, while Phases 4–6 clearly signal the need for response and mitigation efforts. Furthermore, periods after the first pandemic wave are elaborated to facilitate post pandemic recovery activities.

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so any virus that reaches a certain stage...the pandemic phases would be raised....regardless of swine flu, regular flu, etc

It is a world wide panic button to make everyone come under it's influence...if you scare people with it, they will panic and give you what you want..look at what is happening in our nation now...panic and the government spending more of our money ..

Level 7:




Level 8:



Level 9:




Level 10:

no sense of humor.