U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the global body's top health official Margaret Chan are meeting with major pharmaceutical companies to discuss making a vaccine for the new swine flu virus. Health officials from around the world have come to the World Health Organization's annual meeting in Geneva to discuss how to deal with the outbreak that has infected some 9,000 people in over 40 countries. Dozens of governments have called for WHO to tread carefully before raising its pandemic alert to the highest level. Britain, Japan, China and others said declaring a global outbreak could cause unnecessary panic and confusion, especially if the virus turns out to be less dangerous than feared. Since the outbreak began, 76 people have died from the disease, Associated Press reported.
