GENEVA -- While confirmed cases of swine flu increased only slightly on Monday, the World Health Organization voted to raise its global pandemic flu alert level, but at the same time recommended that borders not be closed or travel bans imposed.
The WHO's emergency committee, after meeting until 10:30 p.m. in Geneva, also recommended abandoning efforts to contain the flu's spread. "Because the virus is already quite widespread in different locations, containment is not a feasible option," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the organization's deputy director general.
The WHO also recommended that vaccine-makers keep making seasonal flu vaccine instead of switching over to a new one that matches the swine flu strain, but it urged vaccine makers to start the process of picking a pandemic strain, weakening it and making large batches of it, which could take six months.
Fukuda emphasized that the committee felt that "a pandemic is not inevitable -- the situation is fluid and will continue to evolve."
| A graphic accompanying the article notes that US states have purchased enough anti-viral medication (Tamiflu and Relenza) for about 8% of the US population. |
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