Global virus alert criteria criticized

• Source: The Global Times
• [07:49 May 20 2009]
• Comments

Lu (C), China's second confirmed A(H1N1) influenza patient, was discharged from hospital Tuesday after eight days of treatment. (Xinhua/Fan Changguo)

By Kang Juan

A Global Times poll shows that a majority of its online readers want the H1N1 alert raised to the pandemic level, but Chinese health experts joined Japan and Britain yesterday in arguing that the current outbreak conditions don't warrant such a move.

And like representatives from other countries and regions, local health experts are calling for the World Health Organization (WHO) to review and change its criteria for declaring a pandemic.

Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Global Times that the current pandemic alert system used by WHO needs amending, and he said China must customize its own preventive and controlling measures.

“The current WHO parameters were designed to deal with bird flu,” Zeng said. “It should be adapted to the H1N1 flu, considering how deadly the virus is, not just how fast the virus is spreading.”

Zeng's thinking was partially echoed by Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the WHO representative office in China.

“We encourage governments to respond within the parameters of their own national pandemic plans, because each country faces a different situation and has different needs and capacities,” she told the Global Times in a written statement.

Tan added that the WHO's recommendations under the “Phase 6” pandemic alert are merely guidelines and not legally binding.

The pandemic stage is the highest on the WHO's alert system. It marks the occurrence of a full-blown outbreak – characterized by sustained spreading of an infection in at least three countries, and on more than one continent.

“Currently, we don't have enough information on the spread of the virus, or its transmission routes and patterns, to raise the alert level to Phase 6,” Tan elaborated, referring to the WHO's decision Monday to keep the alert status at 5.

Also on Monday, WHO Chief Margaret Chan told 193 member nations on the first day of the UN health body's annual assembly that they may be facing a “calm before the storm,” but she added that the organization had so far held off on raising the alert, according to AFP. The meeting will end after five days rather than the usual 10, so officials can get back to their countries to deal with the outbreak.

The debate on whether to raise the alert level started after this past weekend, when more than 100 people in Japan suddenly came down with the virus. As of yesterday, 193 cases had been reported. The WHO has said that H1N1 transmission rate in countries outside the Americas is the key factor in whether the agency raises its pandemic alert to the highest level.