Some facts about swine flu

Latest comments

2009-08-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

This is serious business. My daughter woke up this morning with her hair in pigtails. Should we be worried?

The pigs are giving people the 'flu. As if arresting you on jumped up charges isn't bad enough..

Apparently the first symptom of Swine Flu is that you get the trotts.

Swine Flu is like Susan Boyle. It hasn't really done much, but anyone with an internet connection has heard of it.

Apparently my mate's got Swine Flu, I think he's just telling porkies, though.

With Swine Flu spreading fast, I bet Kermit the Frog is panicking.

So it appears Swine Flu has replaced the fears about bird flu. I guess bird flu just never took off...

Apparently over 6 billion emails have been sent out in the last week about Swine Flu. Duh! Didn't you know spam comes from pigs

I woke up this morning with swine flu symptoms; nausea, head-ache, sore eyes and sweating. But turns out it was only wine fever

Advise

2009-08-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

Typical symptoms: sudden fever (38C or above) and sudden cough
1. Other symptoms include: Tiredness and chills
2. Headache, sore throat, runny nose and sneezing
3. Stomach upset, loss of appetite, diarrhoea
4. Aching muscles, limb or joint pain

Symptoms

2009-07-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

Cold hands and feet
fever, which is usually high, but unlike seasonal flu, is sometimes absent
cough
runny nose or stuffy nose
sore throat
body aches
headache
chills
fatigue or tiredness, which can be extreme
diarrhea and vomiting, sometimes, but more commonly seen than with seasonal flu
very similar to menigitis

Serious Swine Flu Symptoms:

Fast breathing or trouble breathing
Bluish or gray skin color
Not drinking enough fluids
Severe or persistent vomiting
Not waking up or not interacting
Being so irritable, one does not want to be held
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

Swine Flu Treatments :
As with the regular seasonal flu, antiviral flu medications, including Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Relenza (zanamivir), are available to prevent and treat the swine flu.
What makes this confusing is that there were many reports this past flu season that the seasonal flu virus was resistant to Tamiflu. In fact, it was recommended that doctors go back to using older medicines like Symmetrel (amantadine) or Flumadine (rimantadine) with Tamiflu or Relenza instead, if someone had a seasonal influenza A (H1N1) virus infection.
In contrast, the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus seems to be resistant to older medications, but still sensitive to Tamiflu and Relenza.

History of pandemics

2009-07-24T01:31:00.000-07:00

It is said that the first pandemic (meaning affecting many people or a wide area) in 1918 killed about 20 -40 million people worldwide, which originated from birds. The influenza A (A1N1) or "spanish flu" still circulate today after being introduced again into the human population in 1977.

The second pandemic in 1957 called the "asian flu" had over 700000 victims, many in the US. The elderly had the highest rates of deaths.

Making it the mildest pandemic in the 20th century was the "Hong Kong flu" in 1968 with roughly 350 000 deaths.

It is widely believed that the Spanish Flu mutated into Avian Flu Virus in 2003.

The latest pandemic or "swine flu" orginated in Mexico was identified in April 2009.