Pandemic Planning Article

Swine Flu

The latest form of swine flu is a new type of the H1N1 strain, while bird, or avian flu, is H5N1.

Infection control experts are scrambling to respond to outbreaks of swine flu in Mexico and the US, and suspected cases elsewhere.

Defenition of: What is swine flu?

Note that, Swine flu is a respiratory disease which infects pigs.

Swine flu is Caused by influenza type A, there are regular outbreaks among herds of pigs, where the disease causes high levels of illness but is rarely fatal.

Swine flu can can circulate all year round but it tends to spread in autumn and winter.

Just like human flu, the infection is constantly changing. There are many different types of swine flu

Is it contagious? Can humans catch swine flu?

Swine flu does not normally infect humans, although sporadic cases do occur - usually in people who have had close contact with pigs.

There have also been rare documented cases of humans passing the infection to other humans.

Human-to-human transmission of swine flu is thought to spread in the same way as seasonal flu - through coughing and sneezing

In the latest outbreak it is clear that the disease is being passed from person to person

Is ther an updated form of the sine flu? Is this a new type of swine flu?

The World Health Organization has confirmed that at least some of the cases are a never-before-seen version of the H1N1 strain of influenza type A.

YH1N1 is the same strain which causes seasonal outbreaks of flu in humans on a regular basis.

But this latest version of H1N1 is different: it contains genetic material that is typically found in strains of the virus that affect humans, birds and swine.

Flu viruses have the ability to swap genetic components with each other, and it seems likely that the new version of H1N1 resulted from a mixing of different versions of the virus, which may usually affect different species, in the same animal host.

Is swine flu dangerous? if so, how dangerous is it?

Symptoms of swine flu in humans appear to be similar to those produced by standard, seasonal flu.

These include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue.

Most cases so far reported around the world appear to be mild, but in Mexico lives have been lost.

Is it safe to eat pig meat?

Yes. There is no evidence that swine flu can be transmitted through eating meat from infected animals.

However, it is essential to cook meat properly. A temperature of 70C (158F) would be sure to kill the virus.

Today Thusday 11th june 2009, the World Heralth Orgainization has raised the level from 4 to level 5 indicating that swine flu is now a pandemic!

Nobody knows the full potential impact of the pandemic, but experts have warned that it could cost millions of lives worldwide.