Swine Flu Outbreak
Swine Flu
Swine flu is an illness that is getting reported in the news a lot right now. With numerous deaths in Mexico, and infections in other countries including the United States and the United Kingdom, it has a lot of people worried.
But less reported is an explanation of swine flu. A lot of people are worried about the disease but know nothing about it.
Swine Flu
At it’s most basic swine flu is simply flu for pigs. It is nothing more than an influenza strain and very rarely infected humans. However a new strain has recently emerged, and it is this strain that has been passed on, and become contagious, within humans.
It is likely that this new strain is actually a mixture of human flu, swine flu and potentially bird flu – as flu types have the ability to combine genetic material.
Symptoms
The symptoms of swine flu are almost identical to that of ordinary flu – fever, sore throat, general aching, a feeling of fatigue etc, etc.
The swine flu appears to be rather milder than normal flu, which kills between 250,000 – 500,000 every year. The only major difference being an increased likelihood of diarrhea.
That there have been deaths in Mexico (and of one Mexican child in the United States) has been widely reported, but it seems that the strength of the virus there is far greater than the strains found elsewhere in the world. Scientists suggest that may be because there are other viruses in circulation which are making things worse.
Swine Flu is a real problem, but right now there is nothing to suggest that, outside of Mexico, it could threaten peoples lives any more than ordinary flu would.
