May 3 (Bloomberg) -- "The World Health Organization may declare the outbreak of H1N1 influenza a pandemic even as many cases of swine flu show symptoms no more severe than seasonal flu, health officials said. The WHO raised its six-tier alert to 5 on April 29 and a further elevation would signal a pandemic, alerting governments to enact plans to curb the disease. Ireland became the 17th country yesterday to confirm swine flu and the new virus may be spreading in five nations among people unconnected to Mexico, where cases were first reported.
“At this stage we have to expect that phase 6 will be reached; we have to hope that it won’t be,” Michael Ryan, the Geneva-based agency’s director of global alert and response, said at a news conference yesterday. “I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent.”
Still, the WHO isn’t seeing sustained community transmission outside of North America for the virus, he said."
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