Results from a government-sponsored clinical trial of inactivated 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine in people with asthma indicate that a single dose of vaccine was safe and induced a strong immune response predictive of protection. The findings also suggest that individuals over the age of 60 who have severe asthma may require a larger dose of vaccine.

WHO Director-General Defends WHO's Response To H1N1

On Tuesday, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan defended her agency's response to the H1N1 flu pandemic saying, "I personally do not believe that WHO exaggerated the threat," and that "[a] new disease is, by definition, poorly understood as it emerges," Reuters reports. Chan continued, "Had the virus turned more lethal, we would be under scrutiny for having failed to protect large numbers of people." Reuters notes that Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top flu expert, "has admitted the six-point pandemic alert scale caused undue confusion as the virus spread in a seemingly milder form," but also said extra caution was taken because of the initial concern that H1N1 was affecting young and otherwise healthy people (MacInnis, 9/28).

The European Medicines Agency has launched a review of Pandemrix on the request of the European Commission to investigate whether there is a link between cases of narcolepsy and vaccination with Pandemrix. A limited number of cases was reported, all collected through spontaneous reporting systems, mainly in Sweden and Finland. Pandemrix, an influenza vaccine, has been used since September 2009 for vaccination against H1N1 influenza in at least 30.8 million Europeans.

Following the WHO's decision on Tuesday to declare the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic over, several news outlets reviewed the emergence of the virus around the world, exploring how some of the lessons learned from H1N1 could assist the WHO's handling of future outbreaks.

The WHO's decision to declare the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic officially over could come within weeks, according to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, the Canadian Press reports.

The WHO will make its decision based on the agency's emergency committee's recommendations, expected this week, as well as input from "the countries currently most affected by H1N1 activity," such as New Zealand and India, the news service writes.

CIDRAP News examines a recently-released WHO report on how donor countries and organizations have responded to the needs of developing countries during the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic. In September, the WHO estimated the "64 'least-resourced countries' needed a total of $1.48 billion of aid for vaccine, medicines and supplies, laboratory and surveillance services, communications capacity, and other activities to respond to the pandemic," according to the news service.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan on Tuesday rejected recent criticisms that her decisions to declare H1N1 (swine flu) a pandemic were impacted by her advisers' link to the pharmaceutical industry, the Associated Press reports.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan on Thursday announced the WHO still considers H1N1 (swine) flu a pandemic, despite the fact "its most intense activity has passed in many parts of the world," Reuters reports (Lynn, 6/3).

Chan released a statement regarding the WHO's decision, which came "two days after a virtual meeting of international flu experts who advise her on setting the global body's pandemic alert level," the Associated Press reports (6/3).

"A year after the H1N1 [swine] flu first appeared, the World Health Organization has issued perhaps the most comprehensive report on the pandemic's activity to date," HealthDay News/Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports (Gardner, 5/5).

The first meeting of external experts tasked with reviewing the WHO's handling of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus came to a close Wednesday, with health leaders maintaining it was still too early to declare the pandemic over, Agence France-Presse reports.