Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Swine Flu: Know Your Enemy!

For the benefit of all, I tried to simplify a long literature about swine flu in a hope that we get an idea of it at single glance. There's a saying: To defeat your enemies, you must know them well.
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What is it? A respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Here are some of the facts all of us need to know about the flu:-

Can humans catch swine flu? Yes, although not normally. Most cases involve people with direct exposure to pigs.

Symptoms of swine flu in humans - fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Signs of swine flu in pigs - fever, depression, coughing (barking), discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, breathing difficulties, eye redness or inflammation, and going off feed.

Can people catch swine flu from eating pork? No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. One can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe.

How does swine flu spread? When people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur.

Available edications - 4 types approved by the US so far: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir.

Spreading of swine flu among pigs - mostly through close contact among pigs and possibly from contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs.

So far, there is no reported case of swine flu in Malaysia and the Government is preparing itself to counter the spread of the decease from arriving at our shore. Be better equipped and stay away from swine flu.

Further readings (here) - *hyperlink removed due to bad link*

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