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Cancun summit on swine flu ends though uncertainty persists
Jul 3, 2009, 20:16 GMT
Cancun, Mexico - A global gathering about the influenza virus A(H1N1) in the Mexican resort city of Cancun ended Friday after two days of talks on the ongoing pandemic.
'There is undoubtedly concern over the policy we are going to carry out once this first phase is overcome, and there is also concern over the south-north cycle of the virus,' Mirta Roses, head of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), said at the closing ceremony.
Addressing health ministers and representatives of 43 countries, Roses said the virus still has a 'dimension of uncertainty,' in terms of possible mutations, future behaviour and equal access of patients to a potential vaccine.
The new virus - which has claimed 382 lives around the world with a total of 89,921 infections, according to the latest reports issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday - is currently expanding in South America, where it thrives in winter conditions.
However, specialists fear a stronger wave of infection in the north.
'It can still surprise us,' Roses stressed.
She said that the Cancun gathering allowed health authorities to tackle scientific, technical and political aspects in the handling of the health crisis, although there remain problems in the development and distribution of a vaccine.
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