Swine Flue is spreading worldwide.
by
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Fig.1. spreading of Swine Flue in US.
Fig.2. Spreading of Swine flue in Europe.Global health authorities warned that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico. New cases and deaths finally seemed to be leveling off in Mexico, where 160 people have been killed, after an aggressive public health campaign.
Scientists believe that somewhere in the world, months or even a year ago, a pig virus jumped to a human and mutated, and has been spreading between humans ever since. Unlike with bird flu, doctors have no evidence suggesting a direct pig-to-human infection from this strain, which is why they haven't recommended killing pigs.
Sudden reports of spreading such diseases arises many questions. Every year we hear about one epidemic or others and we are not able to find the point source of the epidemics. To me I feel that it nothing to do with any natural source. If it had been natural then why it originated only from Mexico and why not India where many people have direct contact with pigs or in other way we can say that their day to day livelihood is dependent on the pigs. According to different reports Swine flu is common in swine and rare in humans. People who work with swine, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine influenza if the swine carry a strain able to infect humans. Either it is a work of different terrorist groups using it as biological weapons (such as use of Anthrax), or it is a simple case of negligence from our side. Many such viruses or bacteria are kept in isolation for different research purposes in research laboratories or hospitals. Due to negligence or carelessness the virus or bacteria escapes to the atmosphere after getting favorable environment gets active as it happened in New Delhi when few years ago Dengue virus spread in New Delhi and the suspected source was one of the prestigious hospital of India. From that time every year we hear the new cases of Dengue fever in New Delhi and surrounding states. Unfortunately there is no specific medication for such diseases. There is also no vaccine for prevention.
We can also blame the climate change or global warming for origination and spreading of such diseases. Global warming is helping such types of bacteria or virus to multiply especially in Tropical countries.
In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.
The 2009 flu outbreak in humans is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that derives in part from human influenza, avian influenza, and two separate strains of swine influenza. The origins of this new strain are unknown, and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reports that it has not been isolated in swine. It passes with apparent ease from human to human, an ability attributed to an as-yet unidentified mutation. The strain in most cases causes only mild symptoms and the infected person makes a full recovery without requiring medical attention and without the use of antiviral medicines.
Whatever may be the cause but it is now essential to find out the point sources of such types of life threatening diseases.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu
Scientists believe that somewhere in the world, months or even a year ago, a pig virus jumped to a human and mutated, and has been spreading between humans ever since. Unlike with bird flu, doctors have no evidence suggesting a direct pig-to-human infection from this strain, which is why they haven't recommended killing pigs.
Sudden reports of spreading such diseases arises many questions. Every year we hear about one epidemic or others and we are not able to find the point source of the epidemics. To me I feel that it nothing to do with any natural source. If it had been natural then why it originated only from Mexico and why not India where many people have direct contact with pigs or in other way we can say that their day to day livelihood is dependent on the pigs. According to different reports Swine flu is common in swine and rare in humans. People who work with swine, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine influenza if the swine carry a strain able to infect humans. Either it is a work of different terrorist groups using it as biological weapons (such as use of Anthrax), or it is a simple case of negligence from our side. Many such viruses or bacteria are kept in isolation for different research purposes in research laboratories or hospitals. Due to negligence or carelessness the virus or bacteria escapes to the atmosphere after getting favorable environment gets active as it happened in New Delhi when few years ago Dengue virus spread in New Delhi and the suspected source was one of the prestigious hospital of India. From that time every year we hear the new cases of Dengue fever in New Delhi and surrounding states. Unfortunately there is no specific medication for such diseases. There is also no vaccine for prevention.
We can also blame the climate change or global warming for origination and spreading of such diseases. Global warming is helping such types of bacteria or virus to multiply especially in Tropical countries.
In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.
The 2009 flu outbreak in humans is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that derives in part from human influenza, avian influenza, and two separate strains of swine influenza. The origins of this new strain are unknown, and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reports that it has not been isolated in swine. It passes with apparent ease from human to human, an ability attributed to an as-yet unidentified mutation. The strain in most cases causes only mild symptoms and the infected person makes a full recovery without requiring medical attention and without the use of antiviral medicines.
Whatever may be the cause but it is now essential to find out the point sources of such types of life threatening diseases.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu
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