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HEALTH: ‘Global Response Needed for Global (Flu) Challenge’
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Jul 2 (IPS) - Health ministers and representatives of 43 countries and the World Health Organisation (WHO) began to meet Thursday in the Mexican resort city of Cancun to discuss a common strategy to curb the spread of the H1N1 flu virus.
"We have to review our history, what we did and how we did it, what we did not do and why, with all of us recognising the actions and the results achieved, in a mature, objective manner," said Mexican Health Secretary Ángel Córdova at the high-level meeting on "influenza A(H1N1): lessons learned and preparedness".
The H1N1 virus, popularly known as swine flu, emerged in Mexico in April and has caused 337 deaths and more than 80,000 confirmed cases in 121 countries, according to the latest WHO update.
The United States heads the list, with 21,449 confirmed cases, followed by Mexico, with 10,984 cases, including 119 deaths.
But the disease, which the WHO declared a full-fledged pandemic on Jun. 11, is now spreading fast in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, fuelled by the southern hemisphere winter.
In her keynote speech, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said "we have good reason to believe that this pandemic will be of moderate severity, at least in its early days.
"But we need to watch very carefully what happens during the current winter season in the southern hemisphere.
"We are still seeing a largely reassuring clinical picture. The overwhelming majority of patients experience mild symptoms and make a full recovery within a week, often in the absence of any form of medical treatment. Research published last week confirms that this pattern, in which most patients experience mild influenza-like illness, has also been seen in Mexico."
"The fight against this influenza virus is a global challenge that requires a global response," Mexican President Felipe Calderón said at the inauguration of the two-day meeting in Cancun, in southwestern Mexico.
In the sessions, participants are discussing questions like the state of the pandemic, epidemiological monitoring of people and animals, the capacity of hospital networks to deal with the pandemic, and international health regulations.
But the officials and experts are facing an uncertain outlook, because the exact physical origins of the virus are still unknown. Moreover, flu viruses can mutate, and become resistant to any vaccine that may be developed.
"What we know now is the same thing we knew when it first appeared: it’s a virus that arose from a new recombination of human, swine and bird flu strains," Silvia Ribeiro, a researcher with the Canada-based Action Group on Erosion, Technology, and Concentration (ETC Group), told IPS.
"But there are still some unanswered questions, like why have so many people died in Mexico. There are also clear indications that the virus is related to industrial-scale livestock production," she added.
The Mexican government has spent some 85 million dollars on medicines and other materials to combat the flu epidemic.
One of the demands that has emerged at the international meeting is for the hardest-hit countries to have access to an eventual vaccine, which is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
"The world is awaiting the H1N1 flu vaccine as a necessary social input for protecting global health," said Córdova. "We will continue promoting actions in favour of equal access to and rational availability of the vaccine, and the widest possible coverage."
Weeks ago, Mexico sent the WHO swine flu samples and clinical data, to contribute to the search for a vaccine.
"The vaccine is necessary, but it will not prevent the disease. Besides, it will be a huge earner for the drug giants," said Ribeiro.
Countries where the flu is spreading have purchased millions of doses of the anti-flu drug oseltamivir, produced under the brand names Tamiflu and Zanamivir.
But two patients, in Denmark and Japan, turned out to be resistant to Tamiflu – an indication of the virus’s capacity to mutate.
Canadian Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq urged the meeting to reach an agreement with a view to tackling the challenge that will be faced when the northern hemisphere winter starts, in October. Experts predict a new outbreak in North America during the winter months.
(END/2009)
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