What is swine flu?

Swine flu Photo

What's swine flu?

It is a general term for influenza viruses adapted to pigs, causing a respiratory disease in the animals. There are many different strains. The disease is caused by a type A influenza virus, and the new strain belongs to the most common subtype, known as H1N1. Swine flu can infect humans. In such cases, it is most often transmitted from a pig to someone handling the animal. Swine flu can pass from human to human through coughing, sneezing or touching infected people or surfaces and then touching your mouth or nose. It is not contracted by eating thoroughly cooked pork.

Is it contagious?

Swine flu is contagious, but health officials cannot yet say how easily this strain spreads from person to person. People are usually contagious for as long as they are symptomatic, typically four to five days for adults and longer for children.

What is the incubation period?

Only a day or two.

How dangerous?

In Mexico, more than 100 deaths are suspected from swine flu, but all known cases in the US and elsewhere have been mild. Experts do not know how deadly the flu is, because they do not know how many people have been infected overall.

The new strain seems to be more lethal to those aged 25 to 45 — an ominous sign, as this was a hallmark of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed tens of millions worldwide.

How can you stop the spread?

Standard methods of prevention include covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze. Use tissues and throw them in a bin immediately. Wash your hands often with soap and water. Use alcohol-based hand sanitisers. Avoid sick people. If you become sick, stay home from work or school.

What is the treatment?

Two antiviral drugs — Tamiflu and Relenza — are thought to work. According to Professor Robert Booy, of the Sydney-based National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Australia has "a large local stockpile as well as the capacity to manufacture" Relenza (an Australian discovery) here.

Is there a vaccine?

No. Development of such a vaccine would take at least four months.

FACTBOX: Swine Flu

BANGALORE — U.S. health officials are investigating a strange new type of swine influenza that has infected at least seven people and which is expected to be found in more.

Here are some facts about the virus and flu viruses in general:

* The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1.

* It is genetically different from the fully human H1N1 seasonal influenza virus that has been circulating globally for the past few years. The new flu virus contains DNA typical to avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses.

* Flu viruses mutate constantly, which is why the flu vaccine is changed every year, and they can also swap DNA in a process called re-assortment. Most animals can get flu but viruses rarely pass from one species to another.

* From December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza were confirmed, all but one among people who had contact with pigs. There was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

* Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to those of seasonal influenza — sudden onset of fever, coughing, muscle aches and extreme tiredness. Swine flu appears to cause more diarrhea and vomiting than normal flu.

* People rarely catch avian flus. Notable exceptions include the H1N1 strain that caused the 1918 pandemic and H5N1 bird flu, which has killed 257 out of 421 infected in 15 countries since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

* Seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people globally in an average year.

* When a new strain of flu starts infecting people, and when it acquires the ability to pass from person to person, it can spark a pandemic. The last pandemic was in 1968 and killed about a million people.

* In 1976 a new strain of swine flu started infecting people and worried U.S. health officials started widespread vaccination. More than 40 million people were vaccinated. But several cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a severe and sometime fatal condition that can be linked to come vaccines, caused the U.S. government to stop the program. The incident led to widespread distrust of vaccines in general.

China Goes on Swine Flu Alert

China hasn’t yet had any reported cases of swine flu, but it is already taking measures to prevent the latest health scare from spreading.

On Saturday, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued an emergency notice requiring passengers arriving from flu-hit areas to report any flu-like symptoms, the China Daily reports.

The traveler measures are not yet as severe as those undertaken in its special administrative region of Hong Kong, where authorities said that passengers coming from areas with reported outbreaks of swine flu, such as New York City, who exhibit flu symptoms would be taken to hospitals for observation. China’s government has not issued a warning against travel to Mexico, as Hong Kong has.

On Monday, China joined several other countries in banning imports of live pigs and pork products from Mexico and parts of the U.S., even though the WHO says that swine flu cannot be contracted by eating cooked pork. The move affects pork from large agricultural states such as Kansas, California and Texas.

China was the source of the SARS epidemic in 2003, and occasional cases of H5N1 bird flu in Hong Kong have been traced to Chinese fowl. After coming under fire for its initial slow response to the SARS crisis, China has tried to improve its pandemic preparedness, though questions remain about how it would handle another major infectious disease outbreak.

–Sky Canaves

Swine Flu Symptoms: Was Obama Exposed to Swine Influenza?

Here are the symptoms of ’swine flu’ just in case you are getting nervous. The Mexican swine flu has all the elements of a global pandemic although the odds of such an historic catastrophe remain small. Cases of swine influenza have already been reported in dozens of countries with thousands sick and over 200 dead in Mexico in just the first week.
Swine Flu Symptoms
Symptoms of Mexican swine flu might include some of the following factors:
–cough
–congestion
–fever
–sore throat
–lack of appetite
–headaches
–nausea
–body aches and pains, particularly in the joints.
–Weakness, fatigue, low levels of energy.

See a doctor if you suspect that you have swine influenza as exhibited by any pig flu symptoms.

U.S. President Barack Obama was exposed to swine flu on his trip to Mexico last week. Obama was greeted by archeologist Felipe Solis at a museum in Mexico City where they warmly embraced. Felipe Solis was dead the next day from what was described then as swine flu symptoms, although local health officials changed the diagnosis to non-descriptive “pneumonia” for apparent diplomatic reasons.

Reports are that Obama knew about the outbreak three days before his visit but decided to go anyway. His imprudence may have been pushed by criticism for having never visited Mexico during his short lifetime before the presidency.

Obama may never feel the symptoms of the bug but because of his exposure he may have been a contagious carrier of the deadly disease back into the United States. There is a chance he infected others. Do not expect the White House to confirm such an interesting scenario even if true.

And luckily for the nation, do not expect the president to get sick. The vast majority of people exposed to any flu strain including the swine flu do not exhibit symptoms of illness. However do not expect Barack Obama to visit Mexico again soon!

The fact that our president can be so easily exposed (and expose others) means we should all be aware and take reasonable precautions.

Swine flu symptoms are similar to the symptoms of other flu strains but the effects are often more pronounced. They will ravage elderly patients and the young harder than others, and those with weakened immune systems will be most vulnerable.

The disease is airborne so it is normally transmitted by coughing or sneezing, or through ventilation systems inside buildings. A mask is not a bad idea, particularly when visiting the sick or you are confined in close proximity with other people like in an airplane. See much more information here.

There is no swine flu vaccine yet. You are not protected if you got a flu shot this year. Flu shots only protect against a few strains of the flu which are expected to be most dangerous in a given year. The pig flu was not predicted by disease experts so they have not even developed serum for it.

The odds of a global pandemic from swine flu are small. Clearly there is panic particularly in Mexico today. Many cases have already been reported in the United States in the last week, although cases of influenza are always reported. Still, if you have swine flu symptoms go see a doctor right away.

And avoid the White House for the time being. A video explaining the symptoms of swine flu is below.

Swine flu symptoms similar to those of human flu

Swine flu has similar symptoms to the more common, human seasonal form of influenza.

It is one of a number of viruses that cause illness among people and animals, causing respiratory problems, fever and fatigue.

Avian flu - which has previously been the subject of pandemic fears after humans began contracting it - is another deadly strain.

According to the Health Protection Agency, outbreaks of swine flu - a disease caused by type A influenza - regularly affect pigs.

People who are around pigs are most likely to suffer from the H1N1 virus but it is also possible for the virus to spread from person to person.

Evoking memories of the fears associated with bird flu, the latest perceived threat of a pandemic was brought to public attention after cases of human swine flu were reported in Mexico and parts of California and Texas in the US.

There have been no cases identified in the UK for at least 10 years.

Scientists found this virus is contagious and spreading from human to human although they do not know how easily the virus spreads between people, the HPA said.

The symptoms of swine influenza in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal flu and include fever, fatigue, lack of appetite, coughing and sore throat. Some people have also reported vomiting and diarrhoea.

Testing has shown that the human swine influenza H1N1 can be treated with the antivirals oseltamavir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza).

Seasonal flu is caused by viruses that are adapted to spread in humans, who have some natural immunity to common strains and can boost it by immunisation with a vaccine.

Avian flu is caused by influenza viruses adapted for infection in birds while swine flu is caused by influenza viruses adapted for infection in pigs.

Potentially major problems can arise when human and animal flu viruses mix and lead to the development of new viruses which are resistant to immunity and can spread through the population, sparking a pandemic.

The HPA said it was too early to say whether the cases in Mexico and the US would lead to a larger outbreak or could represent the appearance of a potential pandemic strain of influenza virus.

There is currently insufficient evidence to understand the extent to which the cases are firmly linked.

Experts from around the world are working in close collaboration with the World Health Organisation to help determine what risk this situation poses to global public health.

Swine Flu Statistics

Statistics:

86 dead in Mexico, 1,400 infected
20 infected in the United States
4 infected in Canada
1 infected in New Zealand
1 Infected in Israel

Areas Affected:

Mexico: North Mexico
USA: California, Texas, Kansas, Ohio, New York (City)
New Zealand: Quarantined

Update Date : April-26-09 @ 3PM ET