*Cases reported by The World Health Organization (WHO) are as of May 30, 2010
International News
WHO keeps pandemic alert status at phase six
After reviewing the state of pandemic activity, and an extended meeting of the Emergency Committee last week, the World Health Organization decided to maintain its pandemic alert level at phase six. While the Emergency Committee unanimously agreed that it had subsided significantly all over the world, H1N1 proliferation still has not dropped below the threshold defined by their phase six alert and it is expected to continue. The Emergency Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for July when they will review disease activity again and consider downgrading the alert status. World Health Organization
CIDRAP disputes BMJ story's allegations of WHO improprieties
The University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) as come to the defence of the World Health Organization after a story in the British Medical Journal alleged conflicts of interest had compromised the UN agency’s recommendation process. According to the Journal story, three scientists who had written key guidance reports for the WHO did so under the influence of competing interests in the pharmaceutical industry. The story goes on to imply that the WHO tried to cover up the interaction by not disclosing it with the report. Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of CIDRAP, weighed in on the story declaring he had ties to neither the WHO nor the pharmaceutical industry, “I have no horse in this race except the truth.” He went on to acknowledge that it is common for public health specialists to gain their expertise working in the private sector. The pool of influenza experts is relatively small and, “for the WHO to not call on these [three scientists] would have been a serious subject matter expert mistake. Having said that, all of the appropriate recusals and identification of conflicts of interest were made. And in the imperfect world we live in today, that's as good as it gets.” With regards to the article, he warned, “Today it's very easy to do science witch hunts or character assassination by inference. There's no evidence whatever that any of these individuals acted improperly, nor did WHO.” CTV News
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