Health Buzz: WHO Stops Counting Swine Flu Cases and Other Health News
Reader Comments
WHO Stops Counting Swine Flu Cases
Recent WHO decision to stop publishing the global tables showing the number of confirmed cases and fatalities of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 for all countries is wrong and may cause irreparable harm to public safety
On July 16, 2009, World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it will no longer issue the global tables showing the number of confirmed cases and fatalities for all countries. This decision to withhold the vitally important information is wrong and may cause irreparable harm to public safety. Recent reports of laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 as officially reported to WHO by States Parties to the International Health Regulations (2005) by July 06, 2009 appear to provide strong evidence of the increasing severity of H1N1 pandemic. Death rate reported with most recent cases is 1.1% compared to overall cumulative level of 0.45% (p < 0.0001; Chi-square test; p = 1.7135E-06; Fisher’s exact test). 86% of newly reported 4591 cases are documented in 13 countries and 89% of all newly reported deaths occurred in 4 countries. Death rate for most recently reported cases in Argentina (cases documented after July 06, 2009 WHO report) is 13.5% (77 deaths/571 cases) which is 30-fold higher than cumulative death rate reported by WHO. Ordinary people have right to know this vitally important information. They need to know to be able to monitor the situation and make the informed decisions and adjustments they will find necessary to daily routine, vacations, and travel plans.
