Swine flu 'becomes most common strain'

6 Nov 2009, 10:20 am   -   Source: AP/SBS
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The World Health Authority says most flu cases across the world are now from the swine flu strain (Getty)

The World Health Authority says most flu cases across the world are now from the swine flu strain (Getty)

The World Health Organisation's flu chief said the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.

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The World Health Organisation's flu chief says the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.

In some countries, swine flu accounts for up to 70 per cent of the flu viruses being sampled, Dr Keiji Fukuda said.

While most people recover from the illness without needing medical treatment, officials are also continuing to see severe cases in people under 65 - a group not usually at risk during regular flu seasons.

"We remain quite concerned about the patterns that we're seeing," Fukuda said during a media briefing on Thursday.

He said the swine flu virus appeared to be fairly stable and that samples from around the world remained very similar to when the virus was first identified in April.

Regarding the recent surge of cases in Ukraine - which has reported more than 250,000 cases and 70 deaths of people with flu-like illness in recent weeks - Fukuda said the virus appeared no different there than anywhere else.

"We just simply have to understand that influenza can cause outbreaks in very large numbers of people," he said. "Patterns can be quite different from country to country."

Vaccination programs under way

Fukuda said the agency was also monitoring the impact of the virus on particularly susceptible populations.

On Wednesday, Venezuelan officials reported swine flu had hit the Yanomami Indians, killing seven people in a population of 28,000.

Fukuda said the WHO had observed Australian Aborigines were disproportionately hit by swine flu but could not say whether they were more genetically vulnerable to the virus or if that was due to underlying health problems.

With swine flu vaccination programs now under way in more than 20 countries, Fukuda said no rare or dangerous side effects had been reported, and the agency was convinced the vaccine was "highly safe".

Fukuda said the WHO had been surprised the vaccine appeared to work after just one dose, but was happy about this because it meant the world's vaccine supplies could be stretched.

Even in children under 10, Fukuda said, the WHO recommended that one dose could be effective. Some countries, including the US, are recommending children receive two doses of the swine flu shot.

"It is better to provide one dose to as many children as possible rather than two doses to fewer children."
 

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