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Swine Flu FAQ

Swine flu, a deadlier flu that is threatening the world today has its origination from the pigs. This Flu has killed 149 and has sickened nearly 2000 people in Mexico. The Flu has already spread through many part of world  like USA,Canada,UK,NZ,Israel,European countries and some parts of Asia. The Swine Flu is the major concern for the World Health Organisation (WHO).

What is it?

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of  pigs first isolated in swine in 1930, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its is totally of 4 different types of the virus. But  the pigs that is affected with this swine does not  die  much. The death rate is low among the pigs.

Symptoms of infected pigs include fever,depression,barking,sneezing,difficulty breathing,red or inflamed eyes,lack of appetite and discharge from the nose or eyes.

How do people get infected?

People gets infected when they have direct contact with the pigs. But the cases where the disease gets transmitted from the infected person have also been documented. One of which is a case from 1988 A person infected by swine flu gets admitted in health care and transmits his disease to the workers working there.

Is swine a new type of flu or has it occured previously?

Yes, Swine flu has occured previously.CDC reports that every year 1 or 2 case is reported with swine flu disease and also from December 2005 to Feb 2009 12 cases of infected people were reported to the agency. The 11 infected people were reported to have a direct contact with the infected pig.

Symptoms of swine flu in the infected person

Symptoms are fever,lack of appetite,coughing,runny nose,sore throat,nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

How can it be diagnosed?

It can be diagnosed by collecting the respiratory specimen withing four to five days of illness,during this period will the infected person shed the virus After getting the specimen it is tested in lab to find whether the infection is due ot swine flu or not. In some cases the virus is reported to have been present for 10 days or even longer especially in children.

Is Medicines available for direct cure of Swine flu?

No,there is no direct medicines for treating the swine flu. But there are other antiviral drugs that can be used against swine virus like Tamiflu (the generic name for oseltamivir) and Relenza (the generic name for zanamivir) that appears to be effective against the flu.

We recommend it is better to prevent the catching  of the disease by just avoiding the gathering for some days. And be at home..

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