ThreatWatch | Pandemic!

The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic (or Alert Level Phase Six), the first time in 41 years, on Thursday June 11, 2009. [who] [cbc] [ctv] [straight] [nyt] [economist]

While the H1N1 flu virus (known as The Swine Flu) has been only of moderate severity, it still has all the characteristics of a pandemic. The worry is that as it moves around the globe (currently the largest increase in cases is in the southern hemisphere, such as Australia and Hong Kong, as they are in their cold season) the virus will mutate into a deadlier strain before it re-bounds north for the fall cold season.



(And on a related tangent, in case I'm not the only guy that gets teased by my loving wife that supposedly I'm "delicate" when it comes to cold and flu symptoms: turns out men ARE effected more by infection! [bbc] So we are not wimpy when we have sniffles! Stew on that, ladies!)

Back to the Pandemic. Just before we panic, it's important to note that the pandemic declaration does not change the approach that British Columbia is taking in dealing with the outbreak. [GovBC] [cbc] And check out this release from the Canada News Centre about precautions and so forth. [cnc]

As might be expected, at first there was panic. Cases were on the rise, including here in British Columbia. [GovBC] After the alert level was raised to Phase Four, Good Mag put together a great graphic to explain what the threat levels mean. [good] At the end of April, the alert rose to Phase Five, the "high to certain" level. [ctv]

Then we got photos of what the virus looked like. [NatlGeo]

Then there was a pause, when no one knew if it was the "calm before the storm." [cbc]

An unforseen problem was the fact that reporting pandemics was only based on geographical spread rather than severity. So when the health effects of the H1N1 was found to be "mild" a backlash arose over the WHO's unwitting fear-mongering, or "hyping" the story in the media. [ctv] There were reports about re-writing the criteria for "pandemic". [cbc] [nyt]


see more Funny Graphs

By the beginning of June, the number of cases had increased world-wide to just under 20,000. [cbc] As of June 1, there were 1,530 cases in Canada, with three deaths. It was all over the place! They found the virus in Metro Vancouver... Burnaby: [VanSun] Coquitlam: [VanSun]

All the while there was lots of debate and speculation about the severity and necessity of raising the level. [cbc] [nyt] Nobody was sure if or when they should make the declaration. [cbc] Then the experts finally met. [cbc]

Enjoy some old Swine Flu PSAs from the 1970s. (Thanks to Jackson Murphy over at The Vancouverite.)



It could have been the alarming number of Inuit in Canada with H1N1 that finally triggered The Pandemic Declaration. [tyee]

Finally... bringing us back to remembering that British Columbia is as well prepared as it was the day before the pandemic was declared, the authorities were watching closely. [GovBC] And there should be a vaccine by the fall. [cbc]

So relax. Instead, check out this newly discovered deadly virus that causes bleeding like Ebola and has killed four of the five people it has infected. It's called Lujo. Or this newly evolved and contagious (among skunks and foxes) version of rabies. [NatlGeo] I suspect they will be the focus of an upcoming edition of ... ThreatWatch! [cbc] [PLoSpathogens]