The World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the swine flu, or H1N1 virus, may be easing in the northern hemisphere, though it remains a threat.

While transmission of the virus “remains active,” the WHO said in a notice just before Christmas, “overall disease activity has recently peaked in much of the hemisphere.” For now, the biggest increases in the number of cases are being reported in areas affected later, including central and eastern Europe, and parts of west, central, and south Asia.

Despite the somewhat eased threat, the WHO says the virus still remains powerful enough to cause deaths that it considers at “epidemic levels.” Most at risk are those with underlying medical conditions, the WHO said.

The CDC said the number of patients with flu-like symptoms visiting doctors just before Christmas continued to increased, “although the proportion of tests for influenza that were positive continued to decline and the overall hospitalization rates for this season were unchanged from the previous week.”

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools officials have been conducting H1N1 flu vaccine clinics at many schools. Vaccinations, which are voluntary, should be completed in February, the district says.

LINKS

Dec. 23, 2009, World Health Organization, “Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 – update 80″

Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools H1N1 information, CLICK HERE>

Mecklenburg County Health Department flu shot info, CLICK HERE>

Centers for Disease Control H1N1 update page, CLICK HERE>

See all other coverage of the swine flu situation on DavidsonNews.net, including how the pandemic has affected local schools and Davidson College, under the H1N1 tag.

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