The head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's (ECDC) preparedness and response unit says pandemic A (H1N1) is less deadly than seasonal flu but is causing great alarm due to other factors, including higher healthcare costs and the impact on children.

Dr Denis Coulombier warns that a second wave of infection with pandemic A (H1N1) could be expected within a few weeks.

Seasonal flu usually affects older people but the situation has reversed with the H1N1 virus; most older people have been spared by the new pandemic. According to Dr Coulombier, this may be because A (H1N1), known in the Netherlands as Mexican flu, is a mutation of the H1N1 virus that caused the deadly Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. The health official says this could be because people who have been exposed to H1N1 may have retained some immunity to the virus. However, he stressed that this is just a theory.
 

The ECDCs surveillance expert said the response to the outbreak had been appropriate and it was correct to prepare for the "worst plausible scenario".
 

The World Health Organization says at least 4,525 people have died from A (H1N1) since April and there have been more than 378,223 laboratory-confirmed cases globally. The ECDC has reported 204 fatal cases in the European Union and European Free Trade Agreement Countries.