Swine virus is world’s premier flu, agency says
By The Associated Press
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Published: November 6, 2009
LONDON — The World Health Organization’s flu chief said the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.
In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 percent of the flu viruses being sampled, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s top flu official. While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people younger than 65 — people who are not usually at risk during regular flu seasons. Fukuda said the swine flu virus appeared to be fairly stable, and that samples from around the world remained very similar to when the virus was first identified in April. Regarding the recent surge of cases in Ukraine — which has reported more than 250,000 cases and 70 deaths of people with flu-like illness in recent weeks — Fukuda said the virus appeared no different there than anywhere else. He said the agency was monitoring the impact of the virus on particularly susceptible populations. Fukuda said WHO had observed Australian aboriginals were disproportionately hit by swine flu, but could not say whether they were more genetically vulnerable to the virus.
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