The spread, though not (yet) the lethality, of this outbreak has been so rapid that the WHO has already raised its pandemic alert level from three to five on a scale that goes to six. If evidence surfaces of an independent cluster of self-sustaining cases in a region outside the Americas (one not dependent on travellers from Mexico for its perpetuation), the WHO will raise the warning to the highest level, signalling a global pandemic. The earlier scare over avian flu arising from outbreaks in Asia never made it past a three on this scale, chiefly because that bug is not able to hop from person to person effectively.

In contrast, this new swine flu not only jumps easily among humans, but also has now demonstrated the worrying ability to jump back into pigs too. On Saturday Canadian officials confirmed that a farm worker in Alberta who had recently returned from Mexico appears to have infected pigs on an industrial farm in that province with A/H1N1. The pigs and workers on that farm have been cordoned off for observation, as it is theoretically possible that the bug will mutate yet again while in the swine and return to humans in a more dangerous form.

Source/Full Story:: The Economist

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