As expected, the World Health Organization has declared the H1N1 flu pandemic officially over. For months many national authorities have been canceling vaccine orders and shutting down telephone hot lines as the disease ebbed from the headlines. World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan says the organization's emergency committee of top flu experts has advised her that the pandemic had largely run its course and the world is no longer in phase six, the highest influenza alert level.
The H1N1 virus has now entered the post-pandemic phase, meaning disease activity around the world has returned to levels usually seen for seasonal influenza. But Chan cautions against complacency, saying that even though hospitalizations and deaths have dropped sharply, countries should still keep a watchful eye for unusual patterns of infection and mutations that might render existing vaccines and antiviral drugs ineffective. Chan urges high-risk groups such as pregnant women to continue seeking vaccination.
The United States stopped classifying the H1N1 flu as a public health emergency in June. Worldwide more than 18,000 people have died since the outbreak began in April 2009. The World Health Organization says the true death toll is likely to be higher. But a final number won't be known for some months.
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