The next update will be on Thursday, April 8th, at 0830 hrs PST.

The WHO Pandemic Alert level remains at Phase 6

Influenza A (H1N1) Cases and Deaths*
*Cases reported by The World Health Organization (WHO) are as of March 28, 2010

National News

Federal government wants to analyze the impact of travel on pandemics

The Public Health Agency of Canada is commissioning a study to find out if travel advisories had any effect on when and where people traveled during the H1N1 outbreak and whether or not it resulted in any change in how the diseased was spread. Dr. Mark Lysyshyn at the agency’s Centre for Emergency Preparedness hopes the findings will give insight into the timing of advisories and which airports should be more closely watched. “We may not be able to prevent a pandemic coming to Canada, but we would like the epidemic curve to rise very slowly… it kind of trickles into Canada as opposed to coming in like a waterfall.” The Toronto Star

International News

Australia looks to the future of pandemic response

An editorial has been published in the Medical Journal of Australia that takes a look beyond the H1N1 pandemic and examines some of the lessons to be learned in preparing for future outbreaks. Among other things, the article calls for a review of the use of the term pandemic in consideration of its connotations in the public’s consciousness, and questions the usefulness of antiviral drugs like oseltamivir in slowing the overall spread of the pandemic. Medical Journal of Australia