After more than a year, travelers might be able to erase the H1N1 flu from their long list of vacation concerns.
The H1N1 flu, or swine flu, swept around the globe twice in the past 14 months, killing an estimated 18,449 people.
But within the past few weeks, the World Health Organization announced that the pandemic that scientists believe started around April 2009 appears to be over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States agreed. Flu tends to rise sharply during the autumn and winter months, and the numbers are no longer on the rise.
"It's kind of died down," said Tricia Landquist, spokeswoman for the Orange County (Calif.) Health Care Agency. "We depend on the Centers for Disease Control and follow their lead."
World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chen announced this month that the group's panel of flu experts had studied data from around the globe and decided the H1N1 flu pandemic had "largely run its course."
Officially, it meant the WHO was taking H1N1 down a notch on its warning system. It had been on Phase Six, the highest influenza alert level. The flu is now considered in a post-pandemic phase. But the flu still holds danger for at-risk groups such as the very young and pregnant women.
The CDC concurred with the finding. The seasonal flu shot this year will handle three strains of virus: H1N1, influenza A and influenza B. Unlike last year, you will need only one shot to be covered.
The State Department has not updated its H1N1 warnings since late last year. However, travelers should check individual country reports at the State Department website, travel.state.gov.
WHO reported that while some areas, such as India, are experiencing problems, the flu has lessened in the U.S. and the rest of North America, including Mexico, which had been a hot spot during the pandemic.
At the height of the flu panic, government officials were criticized for not being prepared. Now that the death count has come in far below some forecasts, they are being accused of overreacting.
But Chen told a news conference in Hong Kong that caution was the only choice, especially amid fears that the flu could have mutated into an even more virulent form.
"We have been aided by pure good luck," she said
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(c) 2010, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.). Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.