WHO: H1N1 flu a very fast pandemic

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 16 (UPI) -- Viruses in past pandemics needed some six months to spread as widely as the H1N1 virus spread in six weeks, the World Health Organization in Switzerland said.

The H1N1 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed and the increasing number of cases in many countries with sustained community transmission is making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for countries to try to confirm cases through laboratory testing, WHO officials said.

The counting of individual cases is now no longer essential in such countries for monitoring either the level or nature of the risk posed by the pandemic virus. However, there is still an ongoing need in all countries to monitor unusual events closely.

The strategy that concentrates on the detection, laboratory confirmation and investigation of all cases, including those with mild illness, is resource-intensive -- and in some countries it is absorbing most national laboratory and response capacity, leaving little capacity for the monitoring and investigation of severe cases and other exceptional events, officials said.