Nations urge WHO to change criteria for pandemic

GENEVA (AP) — Dozens of countries urged the World Health Organization on Monday to change its criteria for declaring a pandemic, saying the agency must consider how deadly a virus is — not just how far it spreads across the globe.

Fearing a swine-flu pandemic declaration could spark mass panic and economic devastation, Britain, Japan, China and others asked the global body to tread carefully before raising its alert. Some cited the costly and potentially risky consequences, such as switching from seasonal to pandemic vaccine, even though the virus so far appears to be mild.

Although no formal changes were made Monday, WHO said it would listen to its members’ requests.

“It’s certainly something we will look at very closely,” said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s flu chief.

The alert for swine flu is now at phase 5, which means the virus is spreading unchecked inside at least two countries in a single region. Under the existing rules, phase 6 indicates outbreaks in at least two different regions of the world and that a pandemic is under way.

“We need to give you and your team more flexibility as to whether we move to phase 6,” Britain’s Health Secretary Alan Johnson told WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, a public health veteran who has made combating the outbreak her top priority since the new virus appeared in North America last month.

Chan warned that swine flu could pose a grave threat to humanity even though the fatality rate is low, with 76 known deaths out of 8,829 confirmed cases.

Chile is the latest country to report a case, bringing the total number of nations confirming infections to 40.

A pandemic announcement would likely have severe economic consequences: It could trigger expensive trade and travel restrictions such as border closures, airport screenings and quarantines.

Governments also fear mass panic, social disruption and overwhelmed health systems. Extraordinary measures such as large-scale pig slaughters like the recent one in Egypt could be taken, even if they aren’t scientifically justified.

Mexico, which has suffered the most deaths and virtually shut down its economy for several days in response to the outbreak, urged WHO to reconsider its pandemic scale.

“People don’t understand what 4, 5 or 6 means,” Mexico’s Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told reporters. “They think that when you go to a higher level things are worse.”

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told The Associated Press she wanted more information on the proposal before taking a position, but she was impressed how many countries supported it.