WHO: Swine Flu outbreak is a pandemic

June 11, 2009 by MassDevice staff

It's official: The Swine Flu outbreak has reached pandemic proportions, according to the World Health Organization, the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog reports.

That means the H1Ni influenza virus "is spreading widely through communities in more than one part of the world," though in a moderate form.

WHO officials hastened to note that the designation, the first such for the virus in 41 years, is an indication of the spread of the disease and not its severity.

Nearly 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported in 74 countries and further spread is likely inevitable, but mortality rates are expected to remain low.

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