Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Influenza

Hopefully you've all heard about the outbreak of Swine Influenza. It is a contagious strand of flu originally passed from pigs to humans and now passed from human to human. There are currently 91 confirmed cases in the U.S. and 1 death*, Mexico has had 26 confirmed cases including 7 deaths. Canada follows behind with 6 cases. Swine Influenza has also been confirmed in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Israel, and Spain.** Though no cases have been confirmed, there are over 100 suspected cases in Australia, South America and much of Europe. 

Symptoms of Swine Influenza are  much like any normal cold you would have. A fever, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, etc. However if you think you may have been exposed to a case of Swine Influenza and have these symptoms, you probably should see a doctor as soon as possible. 

To protect yourself, just to everything you would normally do to avoid getting sick. Wash your hands, avoid close contact with infected people and try not to travel into regions with confirmed cases. According to the CDC, eating pork will not infect you. 

More cases are being reported every day as Swine Influenza spreads like wild fire. So please wonderful people, do what you can to stay healthy!

*www.cdc.gov
**www.who.int/en

3 comments:

hannah.r.freedman said...

Just an update:
Canada actually has 13 confirmed cases, according to BBC News.
And WHO just raised the pandemic warning level up to 5 (out of 6).
And New York city school are considering closing until further notice.

Emma said...

Wow! It is getting more and more serious every moment.

Snowflake said...

While I definitely believe that the more deadly strain of H1N1 (swine flu) is something to be worried about, I think that the media is taking advantage of the hype. Half of my friends are literally freaking out whenever they cough or sneeze. It's crazy. Additionally, some things that the media recommends are actually false methods of protection. H1N1 travels via air, so not shaking hands with people isn't going to help you one bit. I think we also need to put the deaths in perspective: how many people died last year of REGULAR influenza? That being said, we need to stay on alert, especially because parts of this disease could be mutated. I think that overall, we need to remain cautious, but not get caught up in the hype.