# 4632
Although it hasn’t appeared on their website yet, Margaret Chan – Director General of the World Health Organization – has issued a strong rejection of the criticisms lodged in a recent BMJ article that intimated that their decisions regarding the pandemic were unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry.
WHO chief rejects claim that swine flu decision was influenced by advisers' drug company links
By Eliane Engeler (CP) –
GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday strongly rejected suggestions that her decisions about swine flu were influenced by advisers' links to pharmaceutical companies.
"At no time, not for one second, did commercial interests enter my decision-making," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said.
She also dismissed claims the global health body had stirred unnecessary public fear over the pandemic.
When a link to the official statement appears, I try to get it posted here. My thanks to Lisa Schnirring of CIDRAP for the heads up on this.
Meanwhile the WHO has issued a bare-bones report on the fatal H5N1 case I mentioned last week out of China (see China Reports H5N1 Victim).
While details are scant, this is unusually rapid acknowledgement of an H5N1 case for China.
Avian influenza – situation in China
8 June 2010 -- The Ministry of Health in China has announced a new confirmed human cases of H5N1 infection. The case is a 22-year-old pregnant female from Hubei Province. She had onset of symptoms on 23 May and died on 3 June. Investigations into the source of her infection indicate exposure to sick and dead poultry. Close contacts of the case are being monitored and to date all remain well.
Of the 39 cases confirmed to date in China, 26 have been fatal.
Related Post:
- EID Book Review - Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
- Study: Self-Administered Vaccines In Adults
- BMC: Exploring The `Age Shift’ Of Pandemic Mortality
- WHO Europe: Revising Pandemic Preparedness Plans
- Paper: Are We Prepared For A Pandemic In Low Resource Communities?
- CSIRO: The Quest For Flu Resistant Poultry
- University of Michigan: Influenza Encyclopedia 1918-1919
- Lancet: Public Response To The H1N1 Pandemic Of 2009
- Pathogens At the Gate
- NIAID Video: How Influenza Pandemics Occur
- IDSA: Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza Preparedness
- An Increasingly Complex Flu Field
- Study: Kids, Underlying Conditions, And The 2009 Pandemic Flu
- Hong Kong Updates Their Pandemic Preparedness Plan
- Yes, We Have No Pandemic . . .
- Study: Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices During The 2009 Pandemic
- Novel Viruses & Chekhov’s Gun
- MIT: Contagion Dynamics Of International Air Travel
- Pandemic Uncertainties
- Lancet: Estimating Global 2009 Pandemic Mortality
- PNAS: H1N1 Vaccination Produced Antibodies Against Multiple Flu Strains
- Lancet: David Fedson On Statins For Pandemic Influenza
- H5N1: Now That They’ve Broken The `Species Barrier’
- Downton Abbey Rekindles An Old HCW Debate
- Study: The Effects Of School Closures During A Pandemic
- Health Vigilance For The Chinese New Years
- Indonesia: H5N1 Clade 2.3.2 Reaches Bali
- H5N1 in 2012: The Year in Review
- Egypt: A Paltry Poultry Vaccine
- CIDRAP News Coverage Of The H5N1 NIH Workshop
- Watching Indonesia Again
- WHO: H5N1 Update
- Hong Kong: H5N1 Vaccine Recommended For Certain Lab Workers
- Indonesia MOH Reports Bird Flu Fatality
- VOA Report On The Indonesian Duck Die Off
- Dr. Alan Hampson Interview On Indonesia’s New Bird Flu Clade
- Report: Clade 2.3.2 H5N1 Detected In Indonesia
- India: The H5N1 & Migratory Birds Debate
- Bangalore: More Poultry Culled Due To H5N1
- HHS: Call For Public Comment On H5N1 Research
- Nepal: H5N1 Outbreak In Poultry
- mBio: Should The H5N1 Research Moratorium End?
- Vietnam Reports Progress On New Bird Flu Vaccine
- Vietnam: Ministry Bans Transport Of Waterfowl Over H5N1 Fears
- China Reports H5N1 Outbreak In Poultry
- Watching Egypt
- V Said, C Said
- Vietnam Intensifies Bird Flu Prevention Efforts
- Indonesia Announces H5N1 Fatality
- EID Journal: Persistence Of H5N1 In Soil
Widget by [ Iptek-4u ]