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Monday, February 8, 2010

WHO - Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 - update 86

The latest from WHO with regards to the H1N1 pandemic:

"5 February 2010 -- As of 31 January 2010, worldwide more than 209 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 15174 deaths.

WHO is actively monitoring the progress of the pandemic through frequent consultations with the WHO Regional Offices and member states and through monitoring of multiple sources of information."

A special highlight on the situation in Asia, especially countries neighbouring Malaysia, I hope the officials from the MOH are taking note:

"In South and Southeast Asia, pandemic influenza transmission remains active but geographically localized to regional. The overall intensity of respiratory diseases activity was reported to be low to moderate in most places. In India, influenza activity continued to decline in all regions of the country, however, the most active areas of transmission currently are in the western states. An overall peak in the number of pandemic H1N1 cases was recorded in India during mid December 2009, and the majority of these cases were identified in the northern and western states of India. In Thailand, overall ILI activity remained low, however focal increase in activity were observed in several central and northern provinces.

In East Asia, pandemic influenza transmission remains active and geographically widespread across the region, however, overall activity continued to decline. In Japan, overall influenza activity continues to decline but transmission remains higher on the southern island of Okinawa than in other places. In the Republic of Korea (South Korea), rates of ILI continued to decline to near baseline after a substantial wave of activity which peaked during early to mid November 2009. In Mongolia, after a period of sustained elevated ILI activity since early November 2009, levels of ILI have recently fallen to the expected seasonal range. In northern and southern China, rates of ILI have returned to levels seen during recent seasons; however, approximately 30% of respiratory specimens tested were positive for influenza suggesting that active transmission of influenza viruses persists. Of note in China, in recent weeks the circulation of pandemic influenza H1N1 continued to decline with a concomitant increase in the circulation of seasonal influenza type B viruses (pandemic H1N1 and seasonal Type B viruses accounted for 34% and 66% of all influenza viruses detected, respectively). Active transmission of pandemic influenza virus also persists in Hong Kong SAR (China), although at significantly lower levels than an earlier peak of activity during September and October 2009."

Please read the whole informative article:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2010_02_5/en/index.html

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