Swine Flu
Sciencebase reports:
What is swine flu?
Swine flu is a type A influenza virus present in pigs. Human infection is usually uncommon except among people who work and live closely with pigs.
What is unusual about the present strain?
The new strain is a hybrid of swine, human and avian flu viruses and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it can spread from human to human but the level of virulence is not yet clear.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms are similar to regular human flu: fever and chills, a cough, sore throat, aching limbs, headaches, and general malaise. However, there are reports of swine flu also causing diarrhoea and vomiting. Pneumonia and respiratory failure can occur leading to death as also happens in regular human flu, which kills thousands of people every year.
Are there any drugs to treat swine flu?
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are the possible pharmaceutical frontline defence and are proving effective in treating patients diagnosed early enough. There is no vaccine.
How can we prevent the spread of swine flu?
People at risk should cover their mouth when they cough. They should regularly wash their hands with an alcohol-based cleaner and and avoid close contact with the sick. Patients with the disease should stay at home. There is no need to avoid eating pork.
Google has mapped all cases of swine flu thus far:
View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map
For the latest on swine flu: http://twitter.com/healthmap
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