As with every new disease or illness that rears its ugly head; there have been rumors abound regarding Swine Flu. What is it? how can we prevent it? And how can we cure it, let`s have a look at the facts.
This bout of Swine Flu first hit the news in 2009. This seasonal flu that supposedly came from pigs soon spread across the globe and led the WHO to announce a pandemic. Despite all the news coverage,
a lot of people are still confused as to exactly what it is.
Swine Flu is technically known as the H1N1 virus; this comes from variation of pig and avian (bird) flu. This Swine Flu that we are battling now has nothing to do with pigs and is not passed by pigs; it only gains it name as it is similar to pig flu in its genetics. The rumor mill soon went into overdrive; people stopped eating pork and any by products under the misconception that they would catch Swine Flu pork, which is absolute rubbish.
It is in fact an acute respiratory disease which is very easy to pass onto others through coughing, sneezing and the normal ways that a virus travels, and it has a very low mortality rate.
Only 1-4% of sufferers will dies, and these unfortunate few generally have secondary illnesses which worsens the effects of the Swine Flu. It`s a sad fact that people die every day from complications of the common cold or other flu viruses, but these don`t make the news, where of course the deaths from Swine Flu invariably do.
The symptoms of Swine Flu are one or more of the following; coughing, fever, muscular aches, extreme fatigue and in many cases diarrhoea. These are very similar to the symptoms you will get from most seasonal flues, and it proved difficult at first to diagnose Swine Flu as opposed to common seasonal flu. The drugs Tamiflu and Relenza were quickly developed and doctors started to prescribe these over the phone to possible victims, thus preventing further contamination by them not having to come into the surgery.
In recent months it has all but disappeared from the news, leaving many of us to think it has disappeared altogether. Of course it hasn`t, but the drugs and the vaccinations have greatly reduced the numbers of sufferers and it is back to the state prior to when it first became known. Viruses such as this are extremely unpredictable, don't just disappear, they mutate according to the season. As it wasn`t a normal flu, it makes sense that it is going to wane through the winter, but it is also thanks to the aforementioned treatments, the amount of new sufferers is barely mentioned now.
Those who did contract Swine Flu tended to come through it generally unscathed. Tamiflu was the most widely prescribed medication, and the general rules such as plenty of rest and lots of fluids were the order of the day, the normal things that you would do if suffering from flu. A few days rest and most were back on their feet, except the unfortunate few who we mentioned earlier who suffered the complications and sadly lost their lives.
There will be more viruses to come along, that is a fact. Hopefully, the pharmaceutical companies will be as on the ball with these as they were with Swine Flu, and stop a pandemic turning into an epidemic.
