Swine Flu Now Officially a Pandemic, First in 41 Years

A pandemic is simply a global epidemic, meaning that swine flu is now present all over the globe and it will likely continue to spread to more thousands if not millions of people worldwide. Swine flu is now confirmed in 74 countries and the numbers are likely to rise quickly as the virus makes its way into less developed nations who will be ill-equipped to control its spread.

The WHO has been forced to try to balance its announcements about the spread of swine flu with concerns that alarming the public will result in civil unrest and possibly violence in unstable nations. All of this is occurring against the back-drop of a global health industry that will likely be unable to provide a globally available swine flu vaccine for at least several months, long after the flu will have spread and infected countless more people.

And although the swine flu does not appear to be especially deadly, it is proving more resilient than many experts had first hoped. Flu season typically subsides as the warmer weather of summer kills off the virus. But swine flu has managed to maintain its strength as the weather has warmed.

It is unclear at this time if experts are expecting flu season to carry through the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, or if there will be some drop-off in the spread of the flu as the season takes hold.