The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called an emergency meeting in a sign that it may declare the H1N1 flu outbreak a pandemic – the first in more than 40 years.
The UN health agency announced that an emergency meeting with its flu experts would be held in Geneva on Thursday, following a teleconference on Wednesday in which Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, spoke to officials in eight countries with large outbreaks of the flu.
Chan had said earlier that she believed a pandemic was under way, but was seeking clear proof that the flu virus was spreading rapidly from person to person outside the Americas before declaring a global epidemic.
"Once I get indisputable evidence I will make the announcement," she had told reporters on Tuesday.
If confirmed, it would be the first flu pandemic in 41 years, since the Hong Kong flu of 1968.
More at Al Jazeera
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