Swine Flu

Swine Flu FAQ
WebMD Provides Answers to Your Questions About Swine Flu
By Daniel J. DeNoon - WebMD Health News - Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

The swine flu virus in the U.S. is the same one causing a deadly epidemic in Mexico. What is swine flu? What can we do about it? WebMD answers your questions.
What Is Swine Flu?

Like humans, pigs get the flu. Four different type A swine flu strains commonly circulate among pigs. Most recent swine flu viruses have belonged to the H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes. Pigs typically get sick but usually don't die from swine flu.

The new swine flu virus infecting humans is very unusual. It's somehow acquired genes from swine, bird, and human flu bugs. And it's also got genes from Eurasian swine flu viruses that aren't supposed to be in North America.

Do Humans Get Swine Flu?

Normally, swine flu bugs don't infect people. Historically, there's a case every year or two in the U.S. among people who have contact with live pigs.

But from December 2005 to January 2009 there was an uptick in swine flu cases. There were 12 human swine flu infections during this time. Eleven of these people had direct or indirect contact with pigs; in the twelfth case it was not known whether there was pig contact.

It's possible this uptick was due to improved reporting systems, but the CDC says "genetic changes in swine flu viruses and other factors might also be a factor."

The new swine flu virus is different. It's not yet clear that it's here to stay. But it is infecting humans, and that has world health officials keeping a close eye on it.

Can Swine Flu Spread From Person to Person?

The U.S. residents infected with swine flu virus had no direct contact with pigs. The CDC says it's likely that the infections represent widely separated cycles of human-to-human infections.

Have There Been Previous Swine Flu Outbreaks?

If swine flu sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you remember or have read about the 1976 swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix, N.J., among military recruits. It lasted about a month and then went away as mysteriously as it appeared. As many as 240 people were infected; one died.

The swine flu that spread at Fort Dix was the H1N1 strain. That's the same flu strain that caused the disastrous flu pandemic of 1918-1919, resulting in tens of millions of deaths.

Concern that a new H1N1 pandemic might return with winter led to a crash program to create a vaccine and vaccinate all Americans against swine flu. That vaccine program ran into all kinds of problems -- not the least of which was public perception that the vaccine caused excessive rates of dangerous reactions. After more than 40 million people were vaccinated, the effort was abandoned.

As it turned out, there was no swine flu epidemic.

I Got a Flu Shot. Am I Protected Against Swine Flu?

No. There is currently no swine flu vaccine.

It's possible that the seasonal flu vaccine might provide partial protection against H3N2 swine flu bugs. But the strain that appeared in California is the H1N1 swine flu strain. It is very different from the H1N1 human flu strain included in the seasonal flu vaccine.

It's not known whether previous infection with human type A H1N1 flu might provide partial protection against the type A H1N1 swine flu in the current outbreak.

However, the CDC has made a "vaccine seed" from swine flu isolated from an infected person, and has begun the process of developing a vaccine should the need arise. Whether a vaccine could be produced in quantity by next flu season is a huge question.
How Serious Is the Public Health Threat of a Swine Flu Epidemic?

Any flu epidemic is worrisome, especially when a new strain of flu bug is involved.

"Influenza A viruses new to the human population that are able to efficiently transmit from person to person and cause illness may represent a pandemic threat," the CDC warns.

It's worrisome that, unlike seasonal flu, the swine flu outbreak in Mexico is attacking healthy young people. That's a hallmark of pandemic flu bugs.

But it takes more than a new virus spreading among humans to make a pandemic. The virus has to be able to spread efficiently from one person to another, and transmission has to be sustained over time. In addition, the virus has to spread geographically.


Is There a Treatment for Swine Flu?

Yes. While the swine flu bug is resistant to older flu medicines, it remains sensitive to Tamiflu and to Relenza.

Can You Get Swine Flu by Eating Pork?

No. You can only catch swine flu from being around an infected pig -- or, if it's the new swine flu virus, from an infected person.

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Asia moves to ward off new flu virus
(Reuters)

26 April 2009

Asia, a continent that has battled deadly viruses such as the H5N1 bird flu and SARS in recent years, began taking steps over the weekend to ward off a new flu virus.

The swine flu virus has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and infected 11 others in the United States. More than 1,300 are believed to be infected in Mexico.

Following are some details of how Asian countries are responding to the crisis and how markets are expected to react:

ASIAN MARKETS
Analysts did not think the epidemic would have a dramatic impact on markets on Monday morning, but warned that if the epidemic worsens that could change.

“It’s still too early to say how far and wide this may spread but investors will be cautious,” said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer with KGI Asia.

Patrick Shum, strategist at Karl Thomson Securities, agreed that investors would be keeping a close eye on developments in the coming days.

“There won’t be an immediate significant impact on the market but if it is anything like SARS, especially coming at a time when most global economies are in a recession, then markets will take a hit,” he said.

CHINA
China’s quarantine authority issued an emergency notice on Saturday night requiring people to report flu-like symptoms at ports of entry when coming from swine flu-affected places. The ministries of health and agriculture say they are closely monitoring the situation.


SINGAPORE
Singapore’s ministry of health says it is monitoring the situation closely and has urged medical staff to be on the alert for any suspected human cases.

It advised the public to seek immediate medical attention if they develop symptoms of swine flu within seven days of travel to California, Texas or Mexico. It urged them to maintain good hygiene and wash hands frequently, especially after contact with respiratory secretions. Those who are sick with respiratory illnesses should avoid crowded areas and wear masks.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan urged citizens to limit their travel to affected areas such as Mexico and the United States, state-run FM 938 radio reported on Sunday.

“Another worrisome sign is that many of the patients have not come in contact with any farms or pigs before. So that means the human-to-human transmission is quite efficient. And of course, it has now crossed borders into the southern part of the U.S.,” Khaw said.

VIETNAM
Vietnam has launched its disease surveillance system to detect suspected cases and was seeking more information from the World Health Organisation on the disease and ways of prevention.

Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the health ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department, was quoted by the state-run Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Sunday as saying the country needed to watch developments closely as the virus may be spreading in U.S. states where many people of Vietnamese origin live.


SOUTH KOREA
The government has stepped up quarantine and safety checks on travellers arriving from the United States and Mexico, as well as pork imports from those countries.

An emergency quarantine system is in place, with simple tests conducted on people arriving with flu symptoms at airports.

HONG KONG
Hong Kong has stepped up surveillance at border control points and travellers found with swine flu symptoms will be taken to hospitals for further checks.

Samples taken from people with flu-like symptoms and who had travelled in the affected places within seven days before the onset of symptoms will be tested in laboratories.

JAPAN
Japan’s Narita airport, east of Tokyo, ramped up temperature checks for travellers from Mexico using thermographic imaging equipment, which was previously in place at the airport.

Japan’s foreign ministry issued an advisory asking those who were going to Mexico to consider if such trips were necessary.

According to Japan’s Kyodo news agency, Prime Minister Taro Aso has ordered the cabinet’s crisis management officer to come up with measures to block swine flu from entering Japan, closely cooperate with other countries and provide information to the public. The cabinet will meet on on Monday to discuss the issue.

Kyodo said Japan’s farm ministry had instructed animal quarantine officers to examine imported live pigs to make sure they were not infected.

The ministry did not ask for checks on imported pork as it says cooking kills the virus. It regarded the possibility of the virus turning up in pork to be low, Kyodo reported.

THE PHILIPPINES
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap ordered more monitoring of ports of entry to stop the entry of pigs or pork from Mexico and the United States.

Yap said there was no outbreak of swine flu in the Philippines but ordered government agencies to encourage regular vaccination of hogs.

MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s health ministry has begun screening passengers travelling to and from Mexico at all border points.

The veterinary department will meet the Pig Farmers Association on Monday and brief the health minister on the matter, the Veterinary Services Department’s Director General, Abd Aziz Jamaluddin, told Reuters by phone on Sunday.

BANGLADESH
Sheikh Altaf Ali, secretary of the ministry of health and family planning, said the government was aware of the flu outbreak and was monitoring it.

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Israeli suspected of having swine flu in Mideast first
(AFP)26 April 2009

JERUSALEM - In the first suspected swine flu case in the Middle East, a 26-year-old Israeli man has been hospitalised upon returning from Mexico on suspicion of contracting the potentially fatal strain, hospital officials told AFP on Sunday.

The man checked into the Laniado hospital in the coastal city of Netanya with flu-like symptoms and doctors were trying to determine whether he had contracted the disease, a spokeswoman said.

“He came back from Mexico on Friday night and was hospitalised on Saturday night,” she said.

“He is running a high fever but his life is not apparently in danger,” she said, adding that the patient had been put in isolation.

The director of the hospital, Avinoam Shkolnik told the Ynet news website that based on preliminary tests, the patient did not appear to have contracted swine flu.

But if confirmed, the case would be the first in the Middle East.

The Israeli foreign ministry has advised its nationals in Mexico to take precautions to minimise their chances of contracting H1N1 strain swine influenza, such as avoiding mass public gatherings.

In line with the Mexican government’s decision to cancel hundreds of public events, the Israeli embassy in Mexico City called off its celebration of Israeli Independence Day this week.

The new flu epidemic has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and the World Health Organisation has expressed fears it could reach ”pandemic” proportions.

After a meeting of its emergency committee, the UN agency branded the outbreak “a public health emergency of international concern”.

“This virus has clearly a pandemic potential,” its director general, Margaret Chan, said on Saturday.

In a statement, the WHO said it was recommending that all nations “intensify surveillance for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia.”

In Mexico, 20 people have been confirmed to have contracted the disease, 61 are suspected of it and some 1,324 patients with flu symptoms were under investigation, Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.

The outbreak has also spread to the United States, where at least 10 people have been infected.

In New Zealand, Health Minister Tony Ryall said that 10 teenagers who had recently travelled to Mexico had tested positive for influenza and are “likely” to have contracted swine flu.

The swine flu strain has aroused particular concern because it appears to be transmitted from human to human and in Mexico has afflicted healthy young adults rather than infants or the elderly.

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Philippine pig worker infected with Ebola 23 Jan 2009


A Philippine pig farm worker has tested positive for the Ebola-Reston virus, Philipinne Health Secretary Francisco Duque has announced.

Duque told a news conference that the farm worker carries the virus's anti-bodies in his blood, but the identity and age of the man and the location of the farm was not disclosed.

The announcement comes as a World Health Organization-led mission to the Philippines concludes its investigations of the viral outbreak on pig farms.

The Philippines had asked the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for help in stopping the spread of Ebola-Reston virus after an infection was found in some hog farms last year.

The presence of the Ebola-Reston virus in some pigs in two commercial farms and two backyard farms in the country was the first such case anywhere in the world.
Source: AFP
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Christian Vegetarian Association Presents:
Take Heart!

Industrial Pig Farming

The December 2006 edition of Rolling Stone magazine includes an outstanding article entitled "Boss Hog" with the sub-heading "America's top pork producer churns out a sea of waste that has destroyed rivers, killed millions of fish and generated one of the largest fines in EPA history. Welcome to the dark side of the other white meat."

An accompanying photo shows a large pile of pig carcasses with the caption, "Pork producers generate millions of tons of hog waste each year including millions of dead pigs."

Here are some excerpts:

"Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable pig processor in the world, killed 27 million hogs last year."

"Smithfield's pigs live by the hundreds or thousands in warehouse-like barns, in rows of wall-to-wall pens. Sows are artificially inseminated and fed and delivered of their piglets in cages so small they cannot turn around. Forty full grown 250-pound male hogs often occupy a pen the size of a tiny apartment. They trample each other to death. There is no sunlight, straw, fresh air or earth. The floors are slatted to allow excrement to fall into a catchment pit under the pens...”

"The temperature inside hog houses is often hotter than ninety degrees. The air, saturated almost to the point of precipitation with gases from shit and chemicals, can be lethal to the pigs. Enormous exhaust fans run 24 hours a day... If they break down for any length of time, pigs start dying...”

"Taken together, the immobility, poisonous air and terror of confinement badly damage the pigs' immune systems. They become susceptible to infection..."

"Studies have shown that lagoons emit hundreds of different volatile gases into the atmosphere, including ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. A single lagoon releases many millions of bacteria into the air per day, some resistant to human antibiotics."

With an environmentalist, the writer flies over the Smithfield area and sees "several farmers spray their hog shit straight up into the air as a fine mist." "It looks like a public fountain. Lofted and atomized the shit is blown clear of the company's property. People who breathe the shit-infused air suffer from bronchitis, asthma, heart palpitations, headaches, diarrhea, nosebleeds and brain damage."

In a span of four years, Smithfield's lagoons have spilled: "2 million gallons of shit into Cape Fear River, 1.5 million gallons into its Persimmon branch, one million gallons into the Trent River, and 200,000 gallons into Turkey Creek."

"The biggest spill in the history of corporate hog farming happened in 1995. The dike of a 120,000 square foot lagoon owned by a Smithfield competitor ruptured, releasing 25.8 million gallons of effluvium into the headwaters of the New River in North Carolina. It was the biggest environmental spill in United States history, more than twice as big as the Exxon Valdez oil spill six years earlier. The sludge was so toxic, it burned your skin if you touched it, and so dense it took almost two months to make its way sixteen miles downstream to the ocean. From the headwaters to the sea, every creature living in the river was killed. Fish died by the millions."

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How to Avoid Swine Flu Infection

Swine flu, which was initially only transmitted from pigs to humans, is now traveling through human to human contact, and is one of the most deadly of the flu viruses.

You might have noticed people wearing surgical masks in areas of Mexico to avoid the Swine Flu epidemic. At least 100 people have died from Swine Flu infection in Mexico and clusters of swine flu are found in areas all over the United States as well. The Swine Flu is currently under investigation by the Center for Disease Control.

Swine flu symptoms include runny nose, muscle aches, lethargy, lack of appetite, fever over 101 and sudden onset. It is difficult to distinguish from other flu types, and does require a diagnosis.

Researchers are not yet sure if antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu or Relenza may remain effective against swine flu, although these antiviral medicines are working against the current strain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) are currently in the process of developing a vaccine to protect against the Swine Flu.

The Swine Flu is a combination of four known strains including Avian flu, Human Influenza and two other viruses. This new strain of influenza is not only extremely contagious but also deadly, however, there are flu pandemic preparation measures you can take to ensure you do not get the Swine flu.

Step1

Stay Home

If you are sick or have any flu-like symptoms, stay home. Do not go to school or work. Swine flu symptoms may mimic those of regular flu and cold symptoms.

Step2

Contain Your Cough

Cough or sneeze into the crook (inside elbow) of your arm. This way you do not transfer the germs to your hands and then to every object you touch. Swine flu is very contagious, and can spread easily by touching an infected object and then touching your face. A flu mask will help you avoid infection in enclosed spaces.

Step3

Wash Hands Frequently

Wash hands constantly to avoid swine flu. Anything you touch may be affected, so keeping hands clean will help you avoid infection.

Step4

Hand Sanitizer

Carry hand sanitizer with you. If you have things others have touched, use your hand sanitizer to avoid swine flu infection. In addition, avoid shaking hands or other hand to hand contact whenever possible. Also avoid kissing on the cheek or other face to face contact as a greeting method.

Step5

Public Facilities - use little as possible

Touch public handles and pens as little as possible. These are loaded with germs that may carry the swine flu virus.

Step6

Air Travel - travel less

When you fly, be most diligent about following these guidelines. Transferring any flu, including swine flu, is most likely in close quarters like an airplane.

Step7

Clean Your Produce

The life span of a virus is different for each and can vary from as much as 48 hours to 100 years depending on the hardiness of the virus. Although there have been no known cases of swine flu transmission through fruit and vegetable consumption, there does seem to be some concern about the possibility. The best bet is to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables if possible. Make sure you wash your fruits and vegetables with water, and soak for greater effectiveness. Washes and using chlorinated rinses have not been proven to work. So far there have been no cases of swine flu transmission through fruits and vegetable sources.

Step8

Avoid Crowds

Stay out of crowds as much as possible. Close proximity to other people will heighten your chances of to get swine flu. Wear a surgical mask in areas of high traffic concentration. Try to stay at least 3-6 feet away from people.

Step9

Eating and Drinking - don't share

Do not eat or drink after others without complete sanitization of containers or utensils. Swine flu can be transmitted by contact with infected eating utensils.

Step10

Visit Your Doctor immediately - with high fever 101, body aches etc.

Get to a doctor immediately if you develop symptoms of swine flu including high fever and body aches. Swine flu can be deadly, and it is imperative to get to a physician immediately if you think you have swine flu symptoms and think you might have contracted the swine flu virus. Both Tamiflu and Relenza are antiviral medicines that are currently effective against some strains of Swine Flu. These medicines should be taken within 36 hours of flu infection for maximum effectiveness.

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Special Report: World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu - by Fu Yunwei and Ming Jinwei - Excerpt fron Xin Hua News Agency

BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhua) -- At a time when the global financial crisis still ravages the world economy, the outbreak of influenza A/H1N1 further adds to the economic woes of a number of countries and regions. How to jointly control the epidemic and reduce its impact on the world economy is another challenge facing the international community.

It is an urgent task to cope with the flu to serve the world economy in an overall and efficient manner. Since it struck Mexico in mid-April, the epidemic has inflicted prominent fluctuations on the world's main stock and foreign exchange markets as well as staple commodities like petroleum.

The shock wave can also be felt in some countries' real economic sectors like tourism, food and transportation. The world economy is bound to face more grave challenges as long as the flu remains unchecked.

In coping with flu epidemics to protect the world economy, mankind has both experience and lessons. Historically, we see that the world economy could be badly wrecked by not only problems like financial and economic crises but also diseases, wars and environmental deterioration.

The spread of diseases can use up tremendous medical resources and result in the contraction of production and economic circulation. Therefore, it is economically significant to effectively put influenza A/H1N1 under control.

Specific measures should be taken to tackle the epidemic. First, the international community should conduct effective cooperation to boost public confidence. Only when they have strong confidence would investors and consumers expand investment and consumption to promote economic growth. Confidence is needed in fighting both the financial crisis and the current flu epidemic.

Second, we should handle the flu in a scientific and proper manner to minimize its impact on international investment. Although the flu has produced negative impact on the world economy as Joaquin Almunia, commissioner for economic and monetary affairs of the European Commission, has said, the international community has accumulated richer knowledge and expertise in preventing and controlling viruses than before.

In addition, governments have better capabilities in organizing and mobilizing social resources to deal with epidemics, making them possible to take scientific, appropriate and farsighted measures to tackle the flu, which in turn benefits the stability and development of the economy.

With the spread of influenza A/H1N1, the world must also be alert to protectionism which may arise under the pretext of safeguarding public health security, since the flu may stir worries over the safety of products from some virus-hit countries. Necessary restrictive trade measures should be based upon adequate medical proof.

To tackle the current financial crisis, the international community has agreed to jointly overcome the hard times, which is in sharp contrast to what happened in the Great Depression when some countries implemented extreme selfish policies.

As long as countries continue to boost confidence and cooperation, people are bound to see the light at the end of the tunnel soon in both efforts to fight influenza A/H1N1 and secure economic recovery.