After the global economic and financial crisis, America is once again hit by another nationwide concern, the swine flu outbreak. The swine flu scare began after a couple of countries, particularly in the US and Mexico encountered the deadly virus which killed an estimated 84 people, mostly from Mexico. As of today, there are 1000 suspected cases of swine flu which are currently undergoing rigid tests and treatments.
The CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns the public all over the world of the virus’ continual growth as there are still increasing reported cases since the outbreak. Moreover, the World Health Organization had raised its global alert level last Monday but had not yet pushed for full alert. This heightened alert is due to the fact that the swine flu has been transmitting from human to human instead of its usual animal to human transmission. Because of this new mode of transmission, the possibility of wider range of infection is more likely to happen.
Swine flu or swine influenza is a strain of influenza virus that is common to pigs but very rare in humans and naturally, it couldn’t transmit from pigs to humans—unfortunately, it did, as it was believed to mutate to a more human adaptable form. The common swine flu symptoms of an infected person are: chills, flu-like muscle pains, headaches, and fever. Some of the milder hits of the influenza virus can be treated without the need for medical attention but its level can range from mild to deadly. For scientists, influenza virus is the hardest to configure because it changes, mutates and undergoes small unnoticeable permutations overtime so there is no telling when a new strain is deadly as its predecessor or not. Most of the time, it kills in one sweep and disappears as quickly as it turned up.
Examples of its most popular and deadly strains are: the Spanish flu of 1918, Avian flu of 1990 and SARS being the most recent. Children and senior citizen are highly encouraged to practice prevention of coming in contact with the said swine virus because of their low-tolerance level. The only preventive methods known today are prevention of swine and infected humans. As much as possible, avoid large gatherings in public places and stay at home if there is an outbreak within your community.
Travels to known infected areas in the US are highly monitored and a person entering a country showing symptoms of the swine flu is quickly put under quarantine by airport officials all over the world.
Although human infections are confirmed, US farms show no signs of viral problems so far.
