The swine flu virus causes severe secondary respiratory infections and eventually spreads only in a polluted atmosphere. Thus it is known as swine flu. The virus rarely affected humans but the way the pandemic has affected men recently tells us a different story altogether. The H1N1 virus is not a swine influenza virus itself but only a derivative of the form. However, according to reports by the World Health Organization, the H1N1 strain has not yet been isolated from pigs. It is passed on pretty conveniently from human to human in the form of an unidentified mutation.
The prevention of swine influenza can be made via three ways – preventing the flu in swine, preventing the transmission of the flu to humans and preventing the spread of the virus among humans. If facility management, herd management and vaccination are executed successfully, the spread… Read More
The World Health Organization recently declared swine flu or what is also commonly known as H1N1 virus as a pandemic. This change in status of the disease was based on the wide spread of the disease and not the level of danger it poses to victims. The term swine flu was coined when in the initial stages of the virus spreading; several similarities were found between the symptoms of flu experienced by humans and the symptoms of flu experienced by pigs. However later studies showed that the virus associated with seasonal flu was relatively different from the virus associated with swine flu. The only similarity between the two viruses is that there are only two genes found in both viruses that are completely identical.
The transmission of the virus directly from pigs to human beings is not a very common phenomenon. In most cases when this… Read More
I know that I WILL be getting the swine flu shot if it is offered to me this fall. I was able to come to a decision about this after reading “Survive Pandemic Flu”, which goes into this subject in some detail:
But the decision to get the shot is not as clear cut as you might think.
About 30 years ago a decision was made to undertake a massive swine flu inoculation program in the United States. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but two things happened to throw mass vaccination programs into a bad light. For one thing, the anticipated swine flu pandemic never arose.
The other problem – which proved to be far more serious – was that (it appears) contaminated vaccine triggered a severe neurological problem in several hundred people who got the shot. This side effect was rare – about 1… Read More
Copyright (c) 2009 Mark Farrell
H1N1 and H5N1 may co-mingle. Mutations are not the only concern. Scientists are worried about the possibility that the swine flu virus might co-mingle with the highly deadly bird flu A(H5N1) virus.
Looking at the Southern Hemisphere
Important clues about the likelihood of a lethal swine flu pandemic in the fall may come from the Southern Hemisphere, where the influenza season is just about to begin. Scientists and healthcare officials are actively monitoring the virus behavior in those countries, with particular attention to Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador. This would enable them to determine whether the swine flu out breaks actually becoming more severe. The hope is to use such information to develop more effective pandemic plans.
Pandemic Preparedness may help reduce mortality
One thing thats for sure: Putting in place systems that will quickly detect any sign of increasing severity or… Read More
H1N1 is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine flu is an infection caused by a virus. It’s named for a virus that pigs can get. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. The virus is contagious and can spread from human to human.
Bird Flu – The Disease of Birds
Swine Flu Recent Attack
The H1N1 viral strain implicated in the 2009 flu pandemic among humans often is called “swine flu” because initial testing showed many of the genes in the virus were similar to influenza viruses normally occurring in North American swine. But further research has shown that the outbreak is due to a new strain of H1N1 not previously reported in pigs.
The first cases of the H1N1 virus were reported in the United States in early of 2009. Following the outbreak, on… Read More
