The head of the World Health Organization held consultations today with health officials from the eight countries most affected by the outbreak of the new A(H1N1) influenza, according to dpa. The so-called "informal consultations," WHO officials said, were conducted so the health agency could better understand how the virus was spreading and what impact it was having on those who contracted the disease. Margaret Chan, the WHO chief, was set to convene on Thursday the agency's emergency committee of science and health experts. She has held talks with the committee three times before, including before regrading upwards the levels of the influenza pandemic alert system. The latest meeting was last week, when no phase change was announced The alert system was held at Phase 5, the penultimate level. In April, before the start of the outbreak of the new virus, also known as swine flu, the system was at Phase 3. The latest WHO figures showed that 74 countries had reported 27,737 cases of infection, including 141 deaths. Most of the cases, and nearly all the deaths, were in North America. The most affected countries were the United States, with 13,217 cases, of which 27 were lethal, Mexico with 5,717 infections including 106 deaths and Canada, which reported 2,446 cases including four fatalities. In Chile there were 1,694 cases and two deaths and Australia reported 1,224 incidents. Japan had 485 cases, none fatal. In Europe, the most affected remained Britain with 666 cases and Spain with 331. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's director of health security, said Wednesday that his agency was edging closer to moving the alert to Phase 6. This would indicate a flu pandemic, meaning the new virus was showing sustained spreads within communities in at least two regions of the world. So far, Fukuda has noted, the disease has been generally "moderate." The latest round of talks with national health officials was meant to also understand the severity of the disease. While the WHO alert system is based on the geographic spread of a disease, no matter its virulence, officials have said they would not overlook the severity of the disease. Before making another phase change, Fukuda said he wanted to make certain countries were prepared, so as to avoid panic or "adverse reactions."
