World Health Organization Says N1H1 Pandemic Over

Even if the World Health Organization’s global “swine flu” pandemic alert was lifted today, the international community was “lucky” the N1H1 virus did not mutate into a a more lethal form , says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan.

“This does not mean that the H1N1 virus has gone away”  Dr. Chan told a press conference Tuesday.  “We expect the H1N1 virus to take on the behaviour of a seasonal influenza virus and continue to circulate for some years to come.”

“Continued vigilance is extremely important, and WHO has issued advice on recommended surveillance, vaccination, and clinical management during the post-pandemic period.” said Dr. Chan, adding that vaccination continues to be the most cost effective way to protect H1N1 high risk groups.

 In the past several months governments started scaling back their public health response to the  H1N1 crisis, but WHO officials felt they needed more evidence that there were no out of season outbreaks or changes in the intensity of infection rates before dropping the alert.

Controversy surrounding the organization’s decision to upgrade the H1N1 situation to a pandemic in the summer of 2009 surfaced after a Council of Europe investigation into alleged ties between certain WHO Emergency Committee members and pharmaceutical companies. Chan says the names of its emergency committee members will be released shortly but was unclear if the WHO would continue to disclose the identity of committee members in the future.

Although she agrees there needs to be changes in the guidelines for future pandemic responses, Dr.Chan remains confident elevating the H1N1 status to a pandemic was the right thing to do. “We followed exactly the epidemiological and biological criteria as agreed by the experts of the world. And his was a true pandemic.”

The WHO has been able to confirm that at least 18 500 people died from H1N1 virus but this remains a conservative preliminary estimate and the organization will need to a few more years to determine the full extent of the crisis.

“Pandemics, like the viruses that cause them, are unpredictable.  There will be many questions, and we will have clear answers for only some. “