The Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of the EU Member States (MS) met in Stockholm on 1-2 October, during the Swedish presidency. They discussed various aspects of the present influenza H1N1 pandemic and shared experiences that will enable the MS to improve their management of the expected developments during the coming months.

The CMOs concluded that due to the improvement of the pandemic preparedness during the last few years, the impact on MS so far has been manageable. This has in part been due to a successful collaboration between MS, the European Commission, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and WHO. Nevertheless, the CMOs agreed that there are reasons to be concerned when discussing the present situation with signs of a resurgence of the pandemic in the EU. The present public perception of the pandemic does not take into account that the worst may be still to come and tends to underestimate the seriousness of the event. In order to continue the successful work in mitigating the effects of the pandemic there is no place for complacency. Experiences from the southern hemisphere indicates that the next wave of influenza will come during the coming months in Europe, and the CMOs called on all actors at national and international level to share information and to continue the successful collaboration to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. In particular, the health care sector should be aware of an increased burden on acute and intensive care.