It's Baaaack!

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

This little piggy is not going away quitely

Health experts fear H1N1 flu spread

The H1N1 flu virus is likely to keep spreading rapidly across the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

"For the first time in humanity, we are seeing, or we may be seeing, pandemic influenza evolving in front of our eyes," Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, told ministers and experts meeting in Geneva on Monday.

Delegates to the World Health Assembly are discussing ways to fight the virus with vaccines and drugs, as well as what would trigger the WHO to declare a full pandemic.

More at the News Site that Rush loves to hate Al Jazeera

Snip

H1N1 is ready for another tumble in the news spin cycle. From threat to flop and back again--all in the space of less than a month. If you want to know why the general public is so ill informed on simple questions of public health look no further than to how the Corporate Media treat the story of the "swine flu virus" or H1N1.

This little piggy went to Japan.

Jump in swine flu cases in Japan

The number of swine flu cases in Japan has risen rapidly - with more than 120 cases now confirmed.

Nearly 2,000 schools and companies have closed, and the government has discouraged unnecessary travel to quell the spread of the disease.

Just four cases had been confirmed in Japan as of Friday - people who had returned from Canada.

The first case in someone who had not been abroad - a 17-year-old student in Kobe - was reported on Saturday.

Call for calm

Japanese media said the new wave in infections would make Japan the fourth-most infected country in the world, after Mexico, the United States and Canada.

None of those infected are thought to be in danger of their lives, officials say, but the government is taking no chances.

"We must be careful, but with quick treatment patients can recover," said Prime Minister Taro Aso. "We must respond calmly and appropriately."