The WHO Pandemic Alert level remains at Phase 5.
Influenza A (H1N1) Cases and Deaths by Country (as of 8 AM PST, May 27th)*
The WHO has not updated their case totals since the 27th
*Lab confirmed cases and deaths have been provided by the WHO’s Influenza A (H1N1) – Update #40.
Local/National News
- On May 27th, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) announced that 197 new cases of influenza A (H1N1) had been confirmed in the country since May 25th. Ontario still has the most cases in Canada (495), followed by Quebec (207), British Columbia (120), Alberta (109), Saskatchewan (104), Nova Scotia (71), Manitoba (6), PEI (3), New Brunswick (2), and the Yukon (1). Canada’s total case count is now at 1,118 with 43 hospitalizations and two deaths.
- The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) is now reporting the following confirmed cases across the province:
- 43 in Fraser Health
- 3 in Interior Health
- 24 in Northern Health
- 34 in Vancouver Coastal Health
- 15 in Vancouver Island Health
International News
- Since May 1st, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), vowed to aggressively pursue businesses that promote unapproved or unauthorized products related to the novel H1N1 flu, the agency has added 72 items to its list of fraudulent H1N1-related products. The products range from air filtration systems to protective equipment to nutrition supplements. The companies have received warning letters from the FDA, which urged consumers to be cautious about novel flu marketing pitches. FDA fraudulent H1N1 product list
- Australian health authorities have isolated a cruise ship over concerns regarding the novel H1N1 virus. The ship, the Pacific Dawn, has been instructed to anchor near a remote island off the coast of Australia and remain there while tests are carried out on samples from at least three more crew members who have come down with flu-like symptoms. For now, no passengers will be allowed to disembark. On the last sailing of the Pacific Dawn, several passengers became sick with the novel H1N1 virus, and Australian health authorities were criticized for allowing passengers suspected of having the illness to leave the vessel before they could be more thoroughly screened. USA Today
Vaccine News
- Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur has received the H1N1 seed virus from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, allowing the company to begin the preparation process for production of an H1N1 vaccine. Sanofi Pasteur said it will be prepared to begin mass production in approximately two weeks and, "as soon as directed by public health agencies." Even with the seed virus, it will likely take months to make the first batches of the vaccine. BusinessWeek
Today’s Key Question
Will the World Health Organization (WHO) redefine their phases of pandemic alert?
On April 29th, 2009, the WHO raised its level of pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5 based on the spread of the virus in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Currently, alert level phase 6 is defined as the human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region, and community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region. Despite signs of community-level transmission in other parts of the world, such as Japan and Spain, the WHO has not raised the alert level to phase 6.
At the WHO’s annual meeting last week, several countries urged the organization to take its time in going to phase 6, as such a move may cause undue alarm. As the majority of H1N1 cases thus far have been mild, the countries argued that the pandemic phases should reflect not only the geographic spread of the virus, but also its severity.
The WHO announced today that they will call upon outside experts to consider whether or not to revise its phase definitions. According to Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general for health security and environment, this decision reflects not only concerns voiced at the World Health Assembly last week, but also an earlier request from southeast Asian countries made at the ASEAN meeting. According to Fukuda, the WHO is closely examining two questions:
- What level of transmission really indicates that there is spread in the community, and
- Whether or not to deal with the question of an outbreak’s severity, and if so, how.
However, according to Fukuda, the most important issue is not the pandemic phase definitions but whether proper public health actions are being taken in response to the disease. CIDRAP
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