FLU spreads to 74 countries - WHO increase alert level

The World Health Organization,WHO, declared the global swine flu outbreak a pandemic on Thursday after weeks of very public wrestling with its own conscience.
The move indicates that the virus is spreading geographically, but does not mean that the illness, generally described as mild, has become any more severe. As she raised the global alert to level 6, the highest possible level, the agency's chief, Dr. Margaret Chan, immediately emphasized that she expects the early phase of the pandemic to be of "moderate severity." But, she added, "the virus writes the rules," so countries should prepare for mutations that could make it worse and for second waves of illness. And rich countries should help poor ones less able to protect themselves, she said.
"The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic," said Dr. Chan, the W.H.O.'s director general. "We are all in this together."//New York Times