The H1N1 virus is now the dominant influenza virus worldwide, with high levels and increased activity in many regions, the World Health Organization said.
I update weekly, the WHO's point person on the H1N1 virus, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, also cautioned the public not to deal with the influenza virus similar to one another.
Like the seasonal influenza, H1N1 is more active in winter than during the summer, and the majority of infected people get better on their own, Fukuda said. H1N1 also as an infectious and transmissible as the seasonal flu, he said.
But unusually for flu, Fukuda said, H1N1 remains at high levels over the summer months, and many of the serious illnesses and deaths focused on people younger than 65.
Seven months into the Pandemic, the virus commonly known as swine flu still at high levels and continues to increase in North America, said Fukuda. Mexico, for example, has seen more cases from September to November than they saw in the previous month since April, when the virus, he said.
The virus is also becoming increasingly active in Europe and in Central and West Asia, that Fukuda.
Health officials this week report on outbreak of cases in Ukraine, which now has more than 250,000 cases of influenza-like illness, with 235 patients requiring intensive care, the WHO said.
Activity is picking up in Eastern Asia, Fukuda said. Mongolia reported "several" cases over the last week, he said.
"East Asia is one of those parts of the world where seasonal flu viruses in circulation have remained relatively high," said Fukuda. "But even in that part of the world, the virus being dominant Pandemic."
More cases being reported from a number of Caribbean countries as Cuba and Haiti, he said.
In Central America and the Southern Hemisphere, however, activity levels as those regions fell into the summer season, Fukuda said.
"There are different regions around the world - North America, Europe, North and Central Asia - where we have clearly seen an increase in activity Pandemic flu," he said, but "there is no one place throughout the world where focused on. "
Disease activity is difficult to predict, Fukuda said.
"We are not going to know what the future is going to give, and that the main focus of our effort here is ... what steps are necessary to ensure countries are prepared as possible to deal with disease levels, "he said.
H1N1 creates different challenges in different countries, but it seems not affecting indigenous groups more significantly than nonindigenous groups, he said.
In Australia, for example, "aboriginal groups are disproportionately represented in persons end up in hospital from diseases related to the Pandemic," Fukuda said.
The WHO does not always know whether the effects on indigenous groups because of the Pandemic itself or because of fundamental factors.
Because most people infected with swine influenza tend to recover on their own and do not suffer severe problems afterwards, by some people that are tempted to dismiss the idea of infection and it is not serious. But Fukuda said that dangerous intention to lay down.
"Ag has, we are still concerned enough about the patterns we are seeing, especially because some people sizable development difficulties [to come to death]," he said. "We see that the serious difficulties centered on the younger age group than the older age groups."
While the difficulties most often seen in people with chronic, underlying health conditions and pregnant women, they can also develop in people "who are currently healthy and young."
But contrary to some reports, said Fukuda, the WHO is not seen major mutations in the virus since it first. He said viruses being isolated now "generally similar" to the isolation over the past several months, indicating that they are not changing much.
WHO is also no evidence of widespread resistance to antiviral medicines, Fukuda said. There have been sporadic cases of oseltamivir against - the general name for Tamiflu, one of the most used drugs against influenza - but such cases are still "isolated and infrequent," he said.
"Antivirals are useful to all borne well against," he said.
Fukuda suggested as "innovative" the decision by Norway to distribute antiviral medication over the counter for a limited period of time. The transfer can help to highlight the primary health system and enable patients to get the medicine more quickly, he said.
There are other useful defenses against H1N1 vaccines, which the WHO recommends that Pandemic against infections, Fukuda said.
"Vaccines are now used in a significant number of countries ... and based on this experience, in which millions of people who received the vaccine now, we actually see that the vaccines are very safe," a he said.
The only side effects swelling and pain at the injection site, but "these are occurring at the rate expected and usually seen with seasonal flu vaccine," said Fukuda.
'By, believes as well as other public health authorities, the vaccines are very useful against infections Pandemic and [we] do support their use, "he said.
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