With worldwide coverage of the current Swine Flu, H1N1, threatened pandemic, it is vital to understand the measurements The WHO organization places in its various standard for its phases.
WHO has currently issued a Phase 5 warning to the global situation, though there is a question to the number of actual deaths and reported cases caused by the Swine Flu.
Phase 1:
In nature, influenza viruses circulate continuously among animals, especially birds. Even though such viruses might theoretically develop into pandemic viruses, in Phase 1 no viruses circulating among animals have been reported to cause infections in humans.
Phase 2
An animal influenza virus circulating among domesticated or wild animals, is known to have caused infection in humans and is therefore considered to be the basis for a potential pandemic threat.
Phase 3
In this phase an animal or human-animal influenza that keeps recurring, is a virus which has caused sporadic cases, or small clusters of disease in people, but has not resulted in human-to-human transmission sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks. Limited human-to-human transmission may occur under some circumstances, for example, when there is close contact between an infected person and an unprotected caregiver. As was the case where workers on the Mexico pig farms, infected family members with the Swine Flu.
However, limited transmission under such restricted circumstances does not indicate that the virus has gained the level of transmissibility among humans necessary to cause a pandemic.
Phase 4
This phase is characterized by confirmed human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza recurring virus, that is able to cause “community-level outbreaks.” The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic.
Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.
Phase 5
This phase is where the human-to-human spread of the virus is at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this point in time, the declaration of Phase 5 sends a strong warning signal that a pandemic could be imminent. It is time for the nations, worldwide, to finalize their preparations and for WHO organization to be on high alert. Communication and implementation of the planned mitigation measures will be short.
Phase 6
This is the full blown pandemic phase. It is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region, in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is happening.
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