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.

The WHO on Friday announced "it had delivered the first doses of H1N1 [swine flu] vaccine to Cuba, and a dozen countries in Africa would receive millions of doses in coming weeks," Reuters reports. According to WHO spokeswoman Karen Mah, Cuba received an estimated 1.1 million doses Wednesday, and Honduras and El Salvador shipments are "en route," according to the news service.

The WHO's emergency committee concluded Tuesday that it was too early to declare that H1N1 (swine flu) has peaked in all parts of the world, the Associated Press reports. The announcement came after the committee met to review the most recent statistics of H1N1 activity around the world (2/24).