WHO uncertain about declaring flu pandemic

By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization is keeping a close eye on the spread of the H1N1 virus outside North America as it tries to decide whether to declare a pandemic, a top official said on Monday.

Keiji Fukuda, WHO acting assistant director-general, said most of the people infected in Europe and Asia to date had been to Mexico, the outbreak epicenter, and had not caught the virus from the community-at-large.

It remains unclear when, or whether, the United Nations agency will raise its pandemic alert to the top of its 6-point scale and activate emergency response plans to fight the virus known popularly as "swine flu."

"We continue to see a number of infections related to travel in a number of different countries," Fukuda told journalists in Geneva, where the WHO is headquartered.

"We are not certain when we will go to Phase 6." He stressed a designation of a full pandemic would not mean the WHO expected widespread death or severe illness from the strain.

The main concern, he said, is whether the disease takes hold in countries around the world and could emerge in a mutated or more dangerous form with time.

Its spread to countries in the southern hemisphere, like New Zealand, that are entering the winter season when flu tends to be most acute is a particular worry, according to Fukuda.

He emphasized that although Mexican authorities have said the flu outbreak there has passed its peak, the world should not drop its guard and stop monitoring the new disease.