Swine Flu Alert Level Raised to Global Pandemic by WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday, as infections continued to climb globally. This is the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.

On Wednesday, the WHO said 74 countries had reported 27,737 cases of swine flu, with 141 deaths. On Thursday, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 (global pandemic) after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts. 6 is the highest WHO alert level.

Still, in terms of deaths, the swine flu has been mild, so to speak. The last pandemic, the Hong Kong flu of 1968, killed about 1 million people. The regular form of influenza kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people annually.

Read more….