Sunday, February 19, 2012

Swine Flu: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Prevention

Introduction
One of the worst natural disasters in recorded history swine flu, also known as pig influenza occurs when a virus that lives normally in pigs somehow mutates and changes and becomes available to humans.it is endemic in nature and is common throughout the pig population worldwide. People with regular exposure to pig in any form are at increased risk of infection.

This disease is allegedly triggered by swine flu virus, which is endemic in pigs and through pigs, it jumps to human once the virus gets into the human cells, if they replicate themselves, strict our bodies and explode causing a critical syndrome that we see.

Cause
Caused by influenza family of virus influenza C and subtype of influenza A known as H1N1, H2N2 are responsible for it.

History
There has been outbreak of swine flu. In 1918 (during first world war) and in 1976 resulting in 0.5 million deaths in USA .This disease is earlier identified in April 2009 in Mexico. And causes of this disease about 20 million deaths worldwide. During those time it had struck every major city all over the world .it was probably the worst pandemic the world ever witnessed. Recently in 2008-2009 it broke out in Asian country like Philippines and it prove to be menace.in India some of the cases were reported to be caused by H1N1 virus, which is an unusual mix of genetic sequences.

Symptoms
The symptoms are similar as that of influenza like chills, fever, lethargic, loss of appetite, coughing, running nose, sore throat, vomiting. It can also cause numbness in some part of body.

Treatment
From the time of onset of symptoms to the time when a patient receives, treatment is very critical and could be determined the condition. Ideally a patient should get proper treatment within 48 hours of diagnosis.in some cause people without symptoms could be too feeble to walk. The real danger comes when it start to spread by human to human transmission.

Prevention
Don’t get chilled, keep warm, keep in good healthy and hygienic condition .don’t get tired out, avoid gathering and crowds because such places the chances of transmission of virus is maximum.
There are vaccination programs all over the world for fighting against the disease and government of U.S.A and India and all over countries have made it easily available and accessible to it whole population. The vaccines are easy to take and give a surety that you will remain protected. These should be vaccination program at a large scale to prevent a national and international outbreak of the disease. Always wear face mask, don’t leave your nose exposed.

Public Issue
Swine flu is pretty serious issue. It panics whole nation and creates widespread confusion. Such is the fear of endemic that people fear to live their natural day to day lives .government should have good rescue plans for coping the adverse situation. panick creates a social disorder and life comes to a standstill.

Current Status
On 10 August 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the H1N1 influenza pandemic was officially over.