The World Health Organization is still considering increasing the alert level of the H1N1 or swine flu. The flu is currently labeled as a Phase 5 but now with the rise in cases, the global community is considering increasing the alert level to a Phase 6. According to WHO’s Assistant Director General, Dr Keiji Fukuda "As this continues to spread internationally, some countries are moving from isolated to sustained community spread." Phase 6 is the highest level on the WHO pandemic alert system and would mean the virus is a global pandemic. However, Dr. Fukuda suggests that the severity of the disease itself is less severe than a Phase 6 label would suggest. The level of fatal cases is limited and although H1N1 is wide spread, we cannot measure precisely how many have been affected by the disease. The last reported statistics concluded that over 19,000 cases had been reported in 64 countries. Of these there have been nearly 117 deaths.
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