WHO considering pandemic rethink

The World Health Organization is considering a re-think of its global pandemic rating system, following criticism of the current swine  influenza response. The six-point scale shifted from a phase 3 "little  or no human-to-human transmission" to phase 5, a regional pandemic. By  its own definition the maximum level 6, community-wide transmission in  at least two WHO regions, could have been reached with over 2,000  infections in over 20 countries.

The problem for the alert system has been that the severity of the type  (A) H1N1 virus has not been as great as predicted. As a result, the same  pandemic alert level is used as would apply if a virulent flu pandemic  were to kill millions of people, as happened with the 1918-20, 1957-58  and 1968-69 pandemics.