May
Swine flu influenza A (H1N1) – What you need to know
Swine flu, or influenza A (H1N1), is a respiratory disease that infects pigs, first described in the 1930s. It’s caused by a flu virus.
There are three main types of influenza virus: A, B and C.
Type A strains of influenza virus can cause severe illness and are the only type to have caused human pandemics. The H5N1 (Avian influenza ) strain is a type A influenza virus.
Type B strains cause sporadic human cases and small-scale outbreaks.
Type C strains only rarely cause human infection and have not caused large outbreaks.
Of the influenza A viruses, only subtypes H1, H2 and H3 have been transmitted easily between humans. H1 and H3 are the only subtypes currently circulating causing winter influenza in humans.
New influenza subtypes can occasionally emerge with the ability to cause infections within a particular animal species for the first time.
When a new influenza A virus emerges, it can cause human pandemics, with the capacity to efficiently infect and spread between humans. There are regular outbreaks of swine flu in pigs, which become ill but rarely die from the virus. Swine flu does not normally infect humans. This does occasionally happen when people have close contact with Pigs. When different viruses swap their genes inside infected animals a new mix of swine, human or avian influenza can emerge.
A study led by researchers at the U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) notes, that t he 2009 H1N1 virus is a “triple-reassortant” strain of viruses (w hen two viruses infect the same cell, they can create yet other viruses with pieces of each of the original strains. This process is called reassortment.). The 2009 H1N1 virus is a reassortment of swine, human and avian genes. A companion paper from CDC researchers also determined that the virus, first infecting people in 2005, appears to be a new one of unknown ancestry.
Michael Shaw , a microbiologist with the CDC’, said at a news conference: “The genetics are indicating that the origin of this virus apparently appeared before anyone was aware of it occurring in animals or humans. Six of the genes are similar to what had already been seen in the Americas circulating in pigs that we knew about. The acquisition of two new genes from the Eurasian lineage has never been seen in the U.S.” Pigs are sometimes imported to Europe and Asia from the Americas for breeding purposes, but not the other way around, said Shaw.
Some say that tracking the origin of the virus isn’t as important as finding the ecological weak points and upgrading surveillance.
Although a 5-year-old boy in the small village of La Gloria, Mexico, is said to be “patient zero,” with the earliest confirmed case of 2009 H1N1, no one knows exactly how he contracted the virus. “We may not be able to precisely say, ‘This pig farm spawned this virus’ and all that, but I think it’s very important to face the facts about what kinds of ecological settings are spawning danger,” said Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
A Nature study co-written in 2008 by Peter Daszakin, president of Wildlife Trust, an international organization of scientists, used computer modeling to find that hot spots for emerging infectious diseases include China, Southeast Asia, Mexico, parts of Brazil, Europe and the United States.
The study showed that socioeconomic, environmental and ecological factors correlate with emerging infectious diseases and help identify “hot spots” for where they crop up.
Now, researchers are looking at travel and trade patterns from Mexico to shed light on how the virus has spread. There’s a large trade of pigs from the United States and Canada, as well as pig trades from other countries, each year into Mexico, he said.
“There’s a lot of mixing, and a lot of potential for viruses,” Daszak said. “It’s equally likely that it emerged in Mexico as it is in Canada and the U.S.”
Although scientists know of several thousand viruses, more than a million viruses could be out there, assuming every vertebrate species on the planet has 20 viruses that no other vertebrate has, and there are 50,000 vertebrates, he said.
Anyone who is building pig farms or poultry farms in a hot zone of emerging infectious diseases should increase security, look out for new diseases in livestock or people, and investigate any novel diseases rigorously, he said.
Regardless of the outcome of 2009 H1N1, more infectious diseases will crop up over time, and there’s no end in sight. “When you’re in a genetic arms race like this, we’re always going to be fighting this battle,” Daszak said
In pigs, swine flu symptoms can include a sudden onset of fever, coughing, sneezing and a discharge from the nose or eyes. Outbreaks in herds tend to occur during the colder months, and vaccines are available to control its spread in pigs.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
In pigs, swine flu symptoms can include a sudden onset of fever, coughing, sneezing and a discharge from the nose or eyes. Outbreaks in herds tend to occur during the colder months, and vaccines are available to control its spread in pigs.
“In humans, the swine virus exhibits symptoms of regular human flu, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue,” the CDC says. “Some people have reported diarreha and vomiting.”
About 38 percent of cases of the current swine flu involve vomiting and diarrhea, which is not typical of the seasonal flu.
Swine flu can also lead to severe infections because it is not recognised by the human immune system, and it’s not likely to be stopped by drugs developed to combat human variants of the flu. It can cause pneumonia or respiratory failure, particularly in people with underlying chronic medical conditions, and human deaths have been reported previously from swine flu cases.
Children, who are more vulnerable than adults, may develop a series of more serious symptoms that would indicate that a child with swine flu needs urgent medical attention. These symptoms include :
In adults, symptoms that need urgent medical attentions are as follows:
People who have swine flu are likely to be contagious for one day before and up to seven days after they began to get sick with swine flu symptoms.
HOW TO TRY TO PREVENT CONTAMINATION AND SPREAD OF THE DESEASE
There is no vaccine available against swine influenza.
While antiviral treatments like Tamiflu or Relenza may be helpful, consumers should be advised to consult their medical practitioner who is the prescribing authority. The spread of Swine Flu is thought to be happening the same way that seasonal flu spreads: mainly person-to-person through coughing, sneezing or coming into contact with an infected person. At present the morality rate at 2 per cent is similar to that of seasonal influenza. According to the World Health Organisation, swine influenza “has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The influenza A(H1N1) virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C, corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat.”
There are however two influenza antiviral medications that are recommended for use against H1N1 flu. The drugs that are used for treating H1N1 flu are called Tamiflu ® and Relenza ®. As the H1N1 flu spreads, these antiviral drugs may become in short supply. Therefore, the drugs will be given first to those people who have been hospitalized or are at high risk of complications. The drugs work best if given within 2 days of becoming ill, but may be given later if illness is severe or for those at a high risk for complications.
Aspirin or aspirin-containing products (e.g. bismuth subsalicylate – Pepto Bismol) should not be administered to any confirmed or suspected case of influenza A (H1N1) virus infection aged 18 years old and younger due to the risk of Reye syndrome. For relief of fever, other medications are recommended such as acetaminophen or non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Check ingredient labels on over-the-counter cold and flu medications to see if they contain aspirin.
Remember that one of the most common ways people catch colds and the flu is by rubbing their nose or their eyes after their hands have been contaminated with a virus. By washing your hands often, especially: before, during, and after you prepare food, before you eat, after you use the bathroom, after handling animals or animal waste, when your hands are dirty, and even more frequently when someone in your home is sick, you may avoid getting sick yourself and keep your kids from getting sick too.
By wetting your hands first and then applying the soap you need to rub your hands vigorously together for approximately 10-15 seconds, about the length of a little tune. It is the soap combined with the scrubbing action that helps remove the germs. Rinse well at the end.
Routinely clean, with soap and water, and disinfect surfaces, toys, and objects that younger children may put in their mouths. It may also help to wipe surfaces with paper towels that can be thrown away or cloth towels that can be washed afterwards.
Use disposable tissues to wipe or blow your child’s nose.
Teach your children ‘cough etiquette’, which the American Academy of Pediatrics describes as teaching children to turn their heads and cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue or the inside of their elbow if they don’t have a tissue, instead of simply coughing or sneezing onto their hands, which will then spread their germs onto everything they touch.
Avoid close contact with people when you are sick. It isn’t really possible to completely avoid people who are sick, so it is likely better if you just avoid exposing other people to your germs when you or your kids are sick. So don’t go to school, daycare, work, etc., if you are sick with the flu.
Avoid unnecessary contact with a lot of people for your younger children. It isn’t easy to always tell when people are sick and some people are contagious even before they start to have symptoms, so don’t expose your younger kids or yourself to large crowds of people if you don’t have to.
Allthough the name ’swine flu’ brings up a lot of extra fear and worry, it is important to note that swine flu is just another type of flu virus.
The big difference is that the current swine flu has components of pig and bird flu viruses in it, so humans don’t have any immunity to it.
So far experts don’t know if swine flu will become a pandemic strain of flu or it could just have sporadic cases for a few months or weeks until it stops.
Eventhough swine flu is definitely a hazard, one needs to think about if it is all media hype or a true hazard that we should be worried about?
Right now, it seems like it may be a little bit of both. The biggest concern is about what this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus may do. At this time it is impossible to predict what is going to happen with swine flu, but one thing is clear – panic, fear, and any kind of overreaction isn’t going to be helpful. And that means not calling or rushing to your medical practionear for every runny nose, sniffle, or cough that you or your child has.
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