| Swine flu is a respiratory disease caused by flu of type A usually infecting pigs.
There are many varieties of this infection and it constantly varies.
Till now it did not pass onto people, however its last form has overcome inter-specific barriers and can spread from person to person, probably through the droplet method.
How different is this type of swine flu?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that at least in several cases the infection in humans was a strain of the H1N1 flu of type A, which is an unknown entity to human beings.
Symptoms are similar to the usual flu but people in Mexico died of swine flu;
It is a new version of the strain H1N1 similar to the pandemic of flu in 1918;
It is too early to judge whether this strain shall lead to a pandemic;
Flu-effective medicines are available, however a swine flu vaccine is yet to be developed;
It is recommended to wash hands often using soap and cover mouths while coughing;
H1N1 is the same virus strain which causes regular seasonal outbursts of flu in people.
However, the present version of the H1N1 strain is what's different. It contains genetic material which can be found in viruses affecting people, birds and pigs.
Flu viruses are capable of exchanging genetic components. It seems that new version H1N1 has also appeared as a result of the mixing of various virus variants in one animal which usually strike representatives of different kinds.
Pigs are an ideal “melting pot”, in which the viruses can blend.
How dangerous is this disease?
Swine flu symptoms in a person, apparently, are similar to signs of regular flu.
Symptoms, in particular, are fever, cough, sore throat, aches, shivering and tiredness.
From all registered cases of the disease in the world, in majority cases, the disease spread in a soft form. However, some persons died in Mexico.
How seriously should we show concern over swine flu?
When a new virus strain appears which is capable of transmitting from one person to another person, experts very attentively observe it, as it can potentially lead to a global epidemic or pandemic.
FLU PANDEMICS
1918: The Spanish flu – a pandemic of the highest degree in contemporary history. It was caused by a strain of the version H1N1. It is believed that up to 40% of world's population was infected by “Spanish Flu” and more than 50 million humans died. The young population around the world were the largest victims;
1957: The Asian Flu: Around 2 million humans died. It was caused by the human form of virus H2N2, which has combined with a mutated strain found in wild ducks. Epidemiologists quickly identified the virus and developed a vaccine against it. The majority of the victims were in the older generation;
1968: The outbreak of flu was found in Hong Kong. The flu was caused by a strain of H3N2. One million humans died globally due to this flu. Most of the victims were people with more than 65 years of age.
WHO warned that cases of the occurrence of diseases in Mexico and the USA are capable of leading to global pandemics, and states that the condition is very serious.
However, according to experts, it is very early to make any conclusions.
In the present scenario, experts feel that the world is heading towards a flu pandemic after the 1968 flu. Therefore, after an emergency meeting on Monday, the threat from this illness has been raised from three to four points on a six-point scale.
Nobody knows, what could be the consequences of a pandemic, but experts have warned about millions of probable human deaths. A pandemic of Spanish flu or “Spaniard” which had begun in 1918 and which was caused by the virus H1N1 strain, took away millions of lives.
The fact that illness in the population of the USA and other countries has till now spread benignly, evokes optimism. It is assumed that the heavy transmission of the virus in Mexico could be attributed to specific geographical factors – probably the presence of other viruses among the population which are not present in other regions.
One more explanation could be that the infected humans in Mexico took medical help at very advanced stages of the disease than the infected humans in other countries.
Also, it is quite possible that the virus form found in Mexico slightly differs from forms found in other places. But only a laboratory analysis can confirm this.
There is also a hope that since people are often infected by forms of H1N1 virus during seasonal flu outbreaks our immune system can fight more effectively with this infection.
Nevertheless, it is very unusual that many young humans are registered among the deaths due to swine flu. Usually the flu quite often affects the older humans. |
As a Swine Flu protective measure, many people in Mexico and USA started to wear medical masks in public places. More and more people take this necessity with a grain of humor and give their masks some interesting paint jobs - see 
