In April 2009, an outbreak of Influenza-like illness occurred in Mexico and the USA the CDC reported seven cases of novel A/H1N1 influenza. By April 24 it became clear that the outbreak of ILI in Mexico and the confirmed cases of novel influenza A in the southwest US were related and WHO issued a health advisory on the outbreak of "influenza like illness in the United States and Mexico". The disease then spread very rapidly, with the number of confirmed cases rising to 2,099 by May 7, despite aggressive measures taken by the Mexican government to curb the spread of the disease.
On June 11, 2009, the WHO declared an H1N1 pandemic, moving the alert level to phase 6, marking the first global pandemic since the 1968 Hong Kong flu.
On October 25, 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama officially declared H1N1 a national emergency.
November 29, 2009 worldwide update by the U.N.'s World Health Organization (WHO) states that "207 countries and overseas territories/communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 8,768 deaths." (Source: Wikipedia)
