Swine flu could become pandemic

he number of confirmed and suspected cases of swine flu worldwide rose Tuesday, as the World Health Organization increased its alert level on the deadly disease, saying containment of the outbreak wasn’t feasible.

The WHO raised its level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 3 to phase 4, after the organization’s Emergency Committee considered data on confirmed outbreaks in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The phase 4 alert “indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased, but not that a pandemic is inevitable,” the WHO said in a statement.

“Given the widespread presence of the virus, the Director-General [Margaret Chan] considered that containment of the outbreak isn’t feasible. The current focus should be on mitigation measures.” The top threat level is phase 6, which would indicate an epidemic in at least two regions.

Continental Airlines said Friday it would roll back half its capacity for flights to Mexico, making it the first major airline to respond to traveler panic and flight cancellations due to the deadly virus swine flu.

“Given the swift changes we are seeing in the marketplace, we need to react prudently but quickly to bring our capacity more into line with demand,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Kellner. “We were already experiencing soft market conditions due to the economy, and now our Mexico routes in particular have extra weakness.

Though the Houston-based airline didn’t mention swine flu in its release, the outbreak of the deadly virus has reportedly caused a significant drop in travel to and from Mexico where it was first reported.

The World Health Organization’s chief is reportedly on the brink of declaring the outbreak of a new strain of A/H1N1 swine flu a pandemic, though she said that doesn’t necessarily mean the disease is highly lethal or that it will hit the entire globe.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding in terms of fear and death,” Margaret Chan, the United Nations public health agency’s director-general, told the Wall Street Journal Sunday. “It doesn’t mean death in big numbers is going to happen.”

Once the disease begins spreading in a sustained way in other parts of the world, WHO protocols compel her to make the declaration, she told the Journal, even though the strain isn’t as deadly as most people tend to associate with the word “pandemic”.

Chan said that while the world overall is much better prepared for a pandemic than it was just a few years ago, many poor, developing countries remain particularly exposed.

As of Sunday, the new flu had hit 17 countries and sickened 787 people, according to the WHO. Those cases include 506 in Mexico, with 19 deaths — a lower number than originally feared. The U.S. has reported 160 infections and one death.