Swine flu – or swine influenza in full – is a form of influenza which affects pigs and which is known to pass on from the pigs infected with it to human beings who come into contact with them. According to the Wikipedia entry on the disease – www.wikipedia.org/wiki/swine_flu cases of human to human transmission of swine flu have been observed too, where a human being who gets the disease from contact with an infected pig passes the disease on to another person, such that the second person ends up being infected with swine flu without getting into contact with any pigs.
Swine flu – like all forms of influenza – is caused by a virus, the specific viruses culpable for swine flu cases being Orthomyxoviruses. The viruses responsible for causing virus flu – like all forms of flu viruses – are always in a constant state of reinventing themselves, making the treatment of the disease rather tricky.
According to http://www.medicinenet.com/swine_flu/article.htm , common symptoms of swine flu include coughing, fever (characterized by high body temperature) and throat soreness. These are generally also accompanied by a feeling of congestion in the respiratory system which can be rather uncomfortable. Now while these are typical symptoms of influenza, other symptoms unique to swine flu include what starts as headaches and fatigue, progressing into vomiting and loose stool (diarrhea), accompanied by chills, in the severer cases. Swine flu is known to be fatal.
Early and proper diagnosis of swine flu in pigs can help forestall the spread of the disease to humans where it can have devastating effects. According to the website of the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm common symptoms of swine influenza in pigs include sudden fever, coughs, nasal (and eye) discharge, difficulties with breathing, inflammation and redness of the eyes and loss of appetite. According to the same authoritative website, and contrary to popular belief, one cannot catch swine flu from consumption of pork, although people are advised to ensure that they only eat well cooked pig meat, to be on the safe side.
While swine flu is a relatively rare condition (with only a dozen of cases reported between late 2005 and early 2009 according to the American Center for Disease control (CDC) at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm ), epidemics of the disease do occur from time to time – and these can be really deadly.
According to the trusted medical website WebMD at http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/20061101/swine-flu-faq?page=2, swine flu is treatable, though mention is made of the virus responsible for the condition developing resistance some of the medications used in its treatment, meaning that some of the medications found to be effective in its treatment at one time might prove completely ineffective in its treatment at some other point in time. As at now, common drugs employed in the treatment of swine flu with a good degree of efficacy include Tamiflu and Relenza.
According to the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/ some things you can do to avoid keep yourself (and your loved ones) safe from swine flu include avoiding contact with sick people, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth – especially if you feel that you come into contact with the disease and have not washed your hands. You, of course, need to wash your hands with water and soap after coughing or sneezing and ensure that you cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing.
Tags: center for disease control, flu cases, flu viruses, human transmission, loss of appetite, respiratory system, sudden fever, swine flu, swine influenza
August 30th, 2009 at 7:22 am
There is loads of hype around this flu, hype to get people to take the vaccine, if you don’t normally take it why would you now? The media that’s the reason, and of course they our best health at heart right??