The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic -the first global flu epidemic in 41 years — as infections climbed in India, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.
In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 — its highest alert — after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.
The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities — especially in poorer countries.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy — people who are not usually susceptible to flu.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
The last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people.
Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Many health experts say WHO`s pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.
"This is WHO finally catching up with the facts," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the US government on pandemic preparations.
"The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century," WHO chief Dr Margaret Chan told reporters.
"The (swine flu) virus is now unstoppable."
