(AFP) – May 17, 2009

GENEVA (AFP) — The World Health Organisation's annual assembly opened here Monday, with the spectre of a global flu pandemic hanging over the gathering amid a sharp spike in swine flu infections in Japan.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan, who has the power to declare a pandemic after she consults a panel of scientists, met Mexico's Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova in Geneva juts before the assembly opened.

At his meeting with Chan, Cordova symbolically handed over the scientific details of the A (H1N1) virus that will allow development of a vaccine.

Since influenza A(H1N1) became public knowledge in Mexico and the United States less than a month ago, the WHO has raised the global flu alert to level five, one step short of a pandemic.

About 8,500 people have been infected by the new virus after it spread to 36 other countries with travellers, according to the WHO.

The WHO's 193 member states are due to hold a special debate on the new flu virus later Monday.

Officials were keeping an eye on the growing number of cases in Japan where more than 2,000 schools were closed Monday in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.

Some 129 people have been infected there according to Japanese authorities, who only days ago had detected just four cases in travellers from the United States.

"We know that there are some students who have gotten sick. Similar to Europe, UK, Spain, or New York, we are looking very carefully at the situation," acting Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda told AFP on Saturday.

WHO officials have warned that sustained transmission of the virus in a community outside the Americas would be reason enough to declare a pandemic, alert level six, marking the global spread of the virus.

However, they have also emphasised that a pandemic denotes geographical spread of the virus, not the severity of its symptoms.

Member states were also due to decide whether to shorten the assembly to five days instead of 10 so that officials can focus on national preparations against flu.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was due to meet pharmaceutical companies here on Tuesday to discuss production of a pandemic flu vaccine.

The WHO is still considering whether to halt seasonal flu output in order to free up production capacity for large scale pandemic vaccine production.

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