Swine Flu

The H1N1 viral strain implicated in the 2009 flu pandemic among humans often is called swine flu because initial testing showed many of the genes in the virus were similar to influenza viruses normally occurring in North American swine. According to the Centers for Disease Control in humans the symptoms of the 2009 swine flu H1N1 virus are similar to those of flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and tiredness.

About Swine Flu

The H1N1 form of swine flu is one of the descendants of the strain that caused the 1918 flu pandemic. As well as persisting in pigs, the descendants of the 1918 virus have also circulated in humans through the 20th century, contributing to the normal seasonal epidemics of influenza. However, direct transmission from pigs to humans is rare, with only 12 cases in the U.S. since 2005. Nevertheless, the retention of influenza strains in pigs after these strains have disappeared from the human population might make pigs a reservoir where influenza viruses could persist, later emerging to reinfect humans once human immunity to these strains has waned.

The H1N1 viral strain implicated in the 2009 flu pandemic among humans often is called swine flu because initial testing showed many of the genes in the virus were similar to influenza viruses normally occurring in North American swine. Further research has shown that three-quarters or six out of the eight gene segments of the 2009 virus arose from the 1998 North American swine flu strains which emerged from the first-ever reported triple-hybrid virus of 1998.

In late April 2009, Margaret Chan, the World Health Organization's director-general, declared a public health emergency of international concern under the rules of the WHO's new International Health Regulations when the first two cases of the H1N1 virus were reported in the United States, followed by hundreds of cases in Mexico. Following the initial cases in the USA and Mexico, on May 2, 2009, it was reported in pigs at a farm in Alberta, Canada, with a link to the outbreak in Mexico. The pigs are thought to have caught this new strain of virus from a farm worker who recently returned from Mexico, then showed symptoms of an influenza-like illness. These are probable cases, pending confirmation by laboratory testing.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of the 2009 swine flu H1N1 virus are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

The most common cause of death from H1N1 virus is respiratory failure. Other causes of death are pneumonia, high fever, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and kidney failure. Fatalities are more likely in young children and the elderly.

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