# 4344
Although the level of H1N1 infection around the world is quite obviously dropping, it is too soon to know if we are seeing this pandemic’s last gasp.
Flu Season will soon start up again in the Southern Hemisphere, and no one really knows how that will present.
Will novel H1N1 dominate? Or will they see a return of one or more of the other seasonal strains?
While the novel H1N1 virus has remained reassuringly stable in the 10 months since it was first detected, there remains the possibility that we will see an emergence of a more virulent strain in the future.
Flu viruses are notoriously unpredictable.
The 1957 pandemic appeared to be over by the Spring of 1958, but came back two years later, and then again 3 years after that.
It is against this uncertain backdrop that the WHO (World Health Organization) must meet and decide where they believe the pandemic of 2009 is headed.
This report from Reuters.
WHO to decide whether worst over in H1N1 pandemic
Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:16pm IST
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization will convene its emergency committee later this month to examine whether the H1N1 flu pandemic has peaked, its top influenza expert said on Thursday.
"What we are hoping for is that the worst is behind us," Keiji Fukuda told a news conference.
Fukuda said the committee, which makes recommendations on the state of a pandemic to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, would decide whether the H1N1 pandemic declared in June had entered a post-peak or transition phase.
Designating a transition phase in this way -- indicating that the pandemic is continuing but the overall trend is back toward seasonal patterns of influenza -- would help national health authorities look to the future, he said.
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