Pandemic Level Rising? No sign of flu epidemic slowing

WHO’s acting assistant director general today said that the virus is spreading and there is no sign of it slowing down. WHO is now moving to raise its pandemic level to 5.

A 22-month old baby just died in Texas, the first person to die outside Mexico from confirmed swine flu.

USA now has 91 confirmed cases of swine flu, rapidly expanding from the previous number of 60.

What does this means for traveling: My “personal” recommendation is to avoid cramped quarters, that include airplanes. Not only one can contract flu, but also there is a chance of being quarantined upon arrival if there are cases of flu on the airplane.

Also Flu has shown to be susceptible to medication, so if one travels, make sure to travel to destinations with adequate medical care.

Some interesting swine flu links:

WHO Eyes Pandemic Level, Calls Emergency Meeting - GENEVA — The World Health Organization called a third emergency meeting in response to a spike in swine flu cases and said the expert panel will discuss Wednesday whether to raise the worldwide flu alert level.

Something… and Half of Something: Pandemic? - Pandemic? I despise conspiracies, and I hate to see people panic. One of the girls I work with had the flu a few years back, and she was sick, very sick, and she’s terrified that she’s going to catch this swine flu and …

WHO Raises Threat Level But Pandemic ‘Not Inevitable” … - WHO raises flu threat level but spokesman says pandemic “not inevitable.”

WHO Emergency Committee to reassess pandemic alert level - GENEVA (Xinhua) - As the swine flu situation continues to worsen, the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Emergency Committee will meet for a third time to reassess the pandemic alert level, a WHO spokesman said yesterday.