Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – After an emergency meeting early this afternoon the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the the A/H1N1 (swine) flu pandemic had entered its highest phase 6, denoting  “sustained community-level outbreaks in at least two WHO regions.” In its latest update 10 June, WHO reported almost 28,000 confirmed cases of  swine flu in 74 countries worldwide, with 141 deaths. Sudden spikes in confirmed cases in the past few days have been reported from widely-separated countries like Australia and Chile, prompting WHO concern.

The practical implications of this increased WHO alert are left to the individual countries affected by the outbreak. In Switzerland, as elsewhere, people who show symptoms are isolated and treated at a hospital, and the people they have been in contact with are informed, so that they can take precautions. The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) guidelines on how to prevent the spread of the virus include regular washing of hands, use and proper disposal of handkerchiefs when sneezing or coughing, avoiding physical contact with strangers, including shaking hands. It has set up a special pandemic information site in German, French and Italian, as well as a hotline number to call within Switzerland, 031 322 2200.

These measures may seem excessive or even slightly ridiculous, especially since the seasonal flu affects millions of people regularly and kills an estimated 500,000 people worldwide, according to the Centres for Disease Control in the US. But the particularities of this strain of the influenza virus flu began to alarm doctors because of its “unusual patterns” of incidence. “Suddenly, a whole village got sick somewhere, or young and healthy people fell ill”, said Larath Gollogly, a spokesperson at WHO in Geneva.

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