Like many of you, we’ve been watching and listening for the swine flu news today. Late this afternoon the influenza alert level was raised from 3 to 4 by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is run by the United Nations.

What that means is that there is now possibility of ‘community level’ outbreaks, because the virus has been verified to spread from human-to-human into at least two countries in one WHO region. The WHO stresses that ‘Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.’

An Emergency Committee considered epidimiological data from the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and other countries on confirmed outbreaks of the of A/H1N1 swine influenza in reaching their decision about the new alert level.

Today’s announcement marked a change from the previous phase 3 alert level, characterized by mainly animal infections and few human infections. WHO marks a break from phase 3 to phase 4 as going from preparedness to one of response and mitigation.

There is no effective vaccine yet developed for the A/H1N1 swine influenza. The U.S. Centers for disease control states that the virus was susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. To help stay healthy, the CDC recommends to cover (your sneezing), wash (hands often with soap and water), and avoid (touching your eyes, nose, and mouth).

The WHO states that there is no risk of flu infection from well-cooked pork. Also, they advise no restriction of travel or border closure. The WHO Director-General “stated”:http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009/h1n1_20090427/en/index.html that “given the widespread presence of the virus …the containment of the outbreak is not feasible.”

As of today (April 27), the World Health Organization reported a total of 40 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A(H1N1), with no deaths in the U.S.; 26 confirmed human cases of infection with the same virus in Mexico with seven deaths; Canada reported six cases, with no deaths; Spain has reported one case, with no deaths. The Washington Post reported much higher suspected cases, and we’ve seen other numbers of all kinds on the Internet.

“A pandemic of influenza means that we have a new influenza virus to which most people in the world either have little immunity or no immunity and so this is different than our situation with regular influenza viruses,” said Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General ad. Interim for Health Security and Environment at the World Health Organization in an April 26 press conference.

“When we see such a new virus, if it has the ability to infect people and if it especially has the ability to move from person to person in a way that it is able to cause community outbreaks, large outbreaks of infection, then we certainly have the potential for the virus to spread from one country or one location to another,” Dr. Fukuda added.

和大家一样,我们也一直在关注今天的猪流感新闻。今天下午晚些时候,世界卫生组织(WHO)将猪流感警告级别从3级提高到4级。

由此可见,现在有可能出现“群体爆发”,因为已证实猪身上的病毒可从人与人的接触蔓延到一个疫情区域范围内的至少两个国家。WHO强调4级警告说明感染流行病的几率显著提高,但并不代表一定染上流行病。

一应急小组认为美国、墨西哥、加拿大和其他国家收集到的流行病数据已确证这些区域爆发了A/H1N1猪流感,并就是否发出新的警告级别做出一致决定。

此次宣告标记着此前主要以动物、少数人感染为特征的3级警告级别发生变化。从做好准备到做出回应并缓和局势,WHO对3级到4级爆发的一次疫情做好记录。

美国疾病控制中心说目前尚未研发出遏制A/H1N1猪流感的有效疫苗,但病毒对处方类的抗病毒药物如奥赛米韦、扎那密韦敏感。为确保大家健康,控制中心建议打喷嚏时要遮掩,用香皂勤洗手,避免手接触眼睛、鼻子和嘴。

WHO说煮熟的猪肉不存在感染猪流感的风险;还建议不必限制出行或封锁出入境。WHO总干事指出鉴于猪流感病毒广泛蔓延...遏制其爆发是不可行的。

截止今日(4月27日),WHO报道共有40人被实验室确认感染了猪流感病毒A/H1N1。美国无死亡病例;墨西哥26人感染,7人死亡;加拿大6例,无死亡;西班牙1例,无死亡。华盛顿邮报报道了更多的疑似病例。我们也已在网络上获知还有各种各样的其他一些病例。

WHO的“健康安全和环境临时小组”负责人、助理总干事Keiji Fukuda博士在4月26日的新闻发布会上说,“流感大流行意味着我们遇到了一种新型的流感病毒,全世界的大多数人对其的免疫力低下或并无免疫力,因此有别于常规流感病毒。”

Keiji Fukuda博士补充到,“当我们面临这样一种新型病毒时,如果它能传给人类且尤其能以一种导致群体爆发、大面积感染的方式从一人传到另一人身上的话,那么我们也当然有能力防止它从一国或一个区域蔓延到其他国或区域。”