What is the current level of threat of a pandemic occurring?
The World Health Organization (WHO) uses a series of six phases as a system for informing the world of the seriousness of the threat and of the need to launch progressively more intense preparedness activities. The designation of phases, including decisions on when to move from one phase to another, is made by the Director-General of the WHO. Each phase of alert coincides with a series of recommended activities to be undertaken by WHO, the international community, governments, and industry. Changes from one phase to another are triggered by several factors, which include the epidemiological behavior of the disease and the characteristics of circulating viruses. The world is presently in phase 3 which means that a new influenza virus subtype is causing disease in humans but is not yet spreading efficiently and sustainability among humans.
