H1N1 pandemic status reviewed

Anexpert panel advising the World Health Organization is weighing whether to declare the H1N1 flu pandemic over.

The advisory committee of scientists and public health officials will hold a teleconference Tuesday to decide whether to:

• Maintain the current pandemic designation, also known as Phase 6.
• Declare that pandemic activity is in a "post-peak period," the time when flu activity returns to the normal levels usually seen with seasonal influenza.
• Declare the pandemic over.

The WHO's latest update on Friday said the most active areas ofpandemic swine fluvirus transmission are currently in parts of the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, where low level circulation is occurring.

The expertpanel has reportedly been waiting for the onset of winter in the southern hemisphere before issuing its advice.

The WHO has been accused of overblowing the H1N1 outbreak, which was declared a full pandemic in June 2009.

Since it emerged in April in North America, there have been more than 18,000 deaths among people with confirmed H1N1, the WHO said.