Health Area

Disease control experts are still trying to find a way to overcome swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States, and suspected cases in other countries.

Are swine flu?
Swine influenza is a respiratory disease that infects pigs. Caused by influenza type A, outbreaks of this disease in pigs occurred regularly with high-level cases but rarely be fatal.

This disease tends to become an epidemic in the spring and winter, but the cycle is a year-round. There are many types of swine flu and flu-like disease in humans is constantly changing.

Are humans infected with swine flu can?
Swine flu does not usually spread to humans, although sporadic cases also occur and usually the people associated with pigs. Notes on cases of transmission from human to human is very rare.

Human transmission of swine flu in humans is estimated to spread like seasonal flu – through coughing and sneezing. In the present outbreak occurred is not clear whether the disease is transmitted from human to human.

Swine flu symptoms in humans appear similar to symptoms of human seasonal flu.

Is this a new type of swine flu?
World Health Organization, WHO, confirmed that at least some cases is a version of the type A H1N1 influenza that never existed before.

H1N1 is the virus that causes seasonal flu in humans on a regular basis. But the most recent version of H1N1 is different: This virus contains a unique genetic material found in viruses that infect humans, poultry and pigs.

Flu virus has the ability to exchange genetic components to each other, and most likely a new version of H1N1 is the result of the integration of the various different versions of the virus that occurred in one animal source.

Is it safe to eat pork?
There is no evidence of swine flu spread by consumption of infected animal meat. However, the meat must be cooked well, the temperature of 70C will kill the virus.

Do people have to worry?
When he appeared a new type of flu that has the ability to spread from human to human mengawai authorities carefully to see if it has the potential to cause a pandemic.

WHO warned that the cases in Mexico and the United States has the potential to cause a global pandemic and confirms this situation seriously.

However, the WHO said it was too early to assess the situation accurately. Currently, the WHO said the world nearing pandemic situation compared to the years since 1968 – the level of threat is the third of six scales.

No one knows the impact of this pandemic disease completely, but experts warned the death toll could reach millions of people around the world. Spanish flu pandemic, which began in 1819 and is also caused by H1N1 virus, killing millions of people.

The fact that cases in the United States so far showed mild symptoms is good news. While the severity of outbreaks in Mexico is probably due to regional factors that unusual little possibility of other regions in the world.

However, the fact that most of the young victims showed one thing that does not baisa. Seasonal flu usually tend to hit the old age.

What about medication and vaccines?
The U.S. government said the two drugs commonly used to treat the flu, Tamiflu and Relenza, seems effective in dealing with cases that occurred so far. Not clear effectiveness of flu vaccine now in protecting people from this new virus, as are genetically different from other avian species.

American scientists have developed a new vaccine, but it takes time to perfect it and also produce in sufficient quantities to meet demand.

What about Avian flu?
Type of bird flu that causes death in Southeast Asia in recent years different types of swine flu epidemic that now. New form of swine flu is a new type of H1N1, while bird flu is H5N1.

Experts fear the H5N1 has the potential to cause pendemi for its ability to mutate rapidly. However, until now the disease is still a bird disease.

Those who are infected are those associated with poultry and cases of transmission from human to human is very rare – there are no signs that H5N1 can spread from human to human with ease.