# 3324
Declaring that the criteria for declaring a full blown pandemic has been met, Director-General of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan today declared that the world now is in the first pandemic of the 21st century.
She described the pandemic, as it exists today, as being `moderate’ in severity, but cautioned that this level of severity could change over time.
While most people who contract this virus recover without complication, roughly 2% of cases – mostly younger victims – go on to experience serious illness.
Of these, roughly 1/3rd of these cases are occurring in previously healthy individuals.
Underlying conditions, such as pregnancy and respiratory diseases, have been linked to a higher incidence of severe complications.
Chan stated that we do not know how this virus will behave in the developing world. She calls the picture for those living in less developed nations as being `bleaker’ than the rest of the world.
Dr. Keiji Fukuda, when asked about severity, stressed that the virus we see now may not be the virus we see several months from now.
Dr. Fukuda referred to the pandemic as a marathon, not a sprint, and indicated that it may be 1 or 2 years before enough people acquire immunity for the pandemic to `end’.
Dr. Chan reminded her audience that we must not forget that while H1N1 is in Phase 6, we still have the threat of H5N1 (bird flu) which remains in Phase 3.
