Indonesian bird flu cluster causes WHO to rewrite Pandemic phases documents
The World Health Organization plans to redraft the descriptions of its pandemic phases, a task triggered by the confusion provoked by the recent large cluster of human cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Indonesia.
The acting head of the WHO’s global influenza program says the rewrite will spell out more clearly how the agency thinks a novel influenza virus would behave during the different phases leading up to a bird flu pandemic.
The redraft should also help people understand why the WHO doesn’t believe the Indonesian bird flu cluster - which killed seven of eight infected members of a family in at least three waves of illness - signifies a change in the level of pandemic risk.
“What we’re hoping to do is clarify what are the differences between phases and make it more easily understood by everyone what we’re actually looking for,” Dr. Keiji Fukuda said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“There’s clearly so much confusion both about what is Phase X or what is Phase Y, how do we go from it, what is the role of the pandemic task force and what is the process for deciding whether there should be a phase change.
“And so I think that what we will try to do is address those issues specifically and get it posted on the web,” said Fukuda, noting he hopes the work will be completed in the next week or two.
The worrisome Indonesian bird flu cluster - the largest to date and the first time person-to-person-to-person spread of the bird flu virus is believed to have taken place - has provoked calls from some quarters to change the global pandemic alert level to Phase 4 from the current Phase 3.
Read complete avian influenza document here