Japan Becomes Latest Swine Flu Victim- WHO May Declare Pandemic

Swine flu is rapidly spreading, earlier European countries were in its grasp but now it has started to spread in Asian countries as well, Japan being the worst suffering victim. Dozens of swine flu cases have been confirmed in Japan. Seeing the rapid spread, it is very possible that the World Health Organization can declare a pandemic, a former WHO adviser said, spurring demand for vaccines to fight the contagion. Japan reported its first locally-transmitted case on May 16, and the number of people infected with the virus, formally known as A/H1N1, has jumped to 135 from 4 in less than two weeks. Evidence of human-to-human transmission in a region outside North America may prompt the WHO to raise its pandemic alert to the highest level, said Hitoshi Oshitani, the former head of the agency's Western Pacific region.

Japan is undergoing human to huma transmission of Tamiflu which can force WHO to take it into consideration when deciding whether to raise the pandemic alert. Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon are scheduled to broker an accord with executives from drugmakers such as Sanofi-Aventis SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc in Geneva today to ensure developing countries can gain access to pandemic vaccines.

Swine Flu has led to 8,829 infections in 40 nations as health officials from more than 190 countries began a meeting yesterday of the World Health Assembly in Geneva to debate whether swine flu is spreading widely enough to upgrade the threat to level 6, and declare it the first pandemic since 1968. Tamiflu is the best and the most advised medication available for the treatment of Swine Flu.