According to the current influenza pandemic global severity assessment provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), the overall severity of the ongoing pandemic is considered moderate and is similar to that seen during seasonal influenza.WHO has also pointed out that the number of confirmed cases will no longer reflect the severity of the pandemic as time goes on.In addition, the Director-General of WHO has advised countries to adjust their disease control measures according to the development and severity of the pandemic.A community-level transmission of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) has occurred in at least 21 of the 30 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), showing that community transmission in developed countries is inevitable. Therefore, the focus of current disease control efforts should be surveillance of influenza complications and vaccine stockpiling.The Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) stated that community transmission of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in Taiwan is unavoidable unless border closure is implemented.Nevertheless, the public should not panic over community transmission. The government has prepared all the essential public health actions and urged the public to follow the government disease control policies in order to minimize the impact of the epidemic.

Following the WHO’s recommendations, the United States no longer updates its number of confirmed cases on a daily basis; the European Union stopped announcing the number of confirmed cases within its border beginning June 18, 2009; the United Kingdom removed the travel alert for Mexico in mid-May, 2009; Japan canceled arrival inspection for pandemic influenza A (H1N1) at the airport; China implemented crowd surveillance beginning June 18, 2009, and cases with mild symptoms in China are to be treated at home; and Hong Kong no longer traces close contacts of confirmed cases beginning June 18, 2009.

Although no community-level transmission of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) and no case of pandemic influenza A (H1N1)-related complications have occurred in Taiwan, it is merely a matter of time when such events occur, which are likely to happen during the influenza season in the coming winter.When a community-level transmission occurs, an increase in the number of confirmed cases will also result in an increase in the number of cases of pandemic influenza A (H1N1)-related complications among high-risk groups.As a result, Taiwan CDC has also adjusted its disease control policies accordingly.Besides following the WHO’s recommendations, pandemic influenza A (H1N1) was removed from the list of Category I Notifiable Infectious Disease to be included in the list of Category IV Notifiable Infectious Disease and reported as influenza complications beginning June 19, 2009.To monitor the development of the epidemic timely and more closely, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has planned to integrate the surveillance of the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus in the community, pneumonia and influenza-related death with the National Health Insurance database and other existing surveillance systems such as real-time emergency department-based syndromic surveillance system and real-time outbreak and disease surveillance (RODS) system. Further, CECC will continue to pay close attention to the latest international vaccine development and vaccine strategies to ensure the health of the people in Taiwan.
For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or dial the toll-free hotline, 1922, operated by Taiwan CDC.