WHO says H1N1 is not over
December 3, 2009
THE CANADIAN PRESS
The World Health Organization's top flu expert says it's too soon to think about declaring the H1N1 pandemic over.
Dr. Keiji Fukuda says the WHO will probably explore the issue with expert advisers sometime in 2010.
But he says currently flu activity is still on the rise in parts of the Northern Hemisphere and it's not clear whether there will be another wave of activity in the spring.
Current estimates suggests the virus has a death rate that is several times lower than that of seasonal influenza.
But Fukuda notes that seasonal flu death estimates are based on calculations of excess deaths that occur during flu season, not confirmed flu deaths.
He says the world won't really have a similar handle on how many people were killed by H1N1 until a few years from now.
thestar.com
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