Between April 17 and April 23, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported several cases of influenza-like illness caused by an atypical strain of swine influenza virus A (H1N1) in Mexico and the United States of America. On April 25, WHO declared this occurrence as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and the pandemic alert phase was raised from phase 3 to phase 4. Upon further review of the geographical spread of the virus, WHO raised the pandemic alert to phase 5 denoting the same identified virus has caused sustained community level outbreaks in two or more countries in one WHO region; on April 29.
Beginning April 30, WHO officially renamed the outbreak to Influenza A H1N1. On June 11, WHO raised the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 where in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5, the same virus has caused sustained community level outbreaks in at least one other country in another WHO region.
For additional guidance and information, please refer to the WHO headquarters, regional offices and at http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html.
For information related to situation in Malaysia, please refer to: http://h1n1.moh.gov.my/
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