DUSHANBE, June 12, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- A meeting to discuss measures to prevent spread of the swine influenza to the CIS states was held in Moscow on June 9, according to the CIS Executive Committee press service.

The meeting brought together representatives from Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to discuss ways to prevent spread of a new strain of Influenza A virus subtype H1N1.  The meeting participants agreed to exchange information about the swine influenza situation in their countries and the results of monitoring and assessment of preventive and clinical efficiency of antivirus preparations.

During the meeting it was noted that the work on studying and developing vaccine strains as well as studying the swine influenza virus would be continued in the CIS states.            

The outbreak began in Mexico, where early reports indicated a surge of cases that had already killed at least 81 people by April 26.  As a result, WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressed concern that this could become a worldwide flu pandemic, with WHO raising its alert level to Phase 5 out of the six maximum.