How To prevent Flu

Recently, Canadian officials have discovered a case of pigs being infected by humans and the first evidence that the A(H1N1) virus had crossed to another species. About 200 pigs on a farm were infected by a farm worker who recently returned from Mexico.

Officials believe the worker may have sneezed or coughed near the pigs.

Now that the swine flu virus has passed from a farm worker to pigs, could it jump back to people? The question is important, because crossing species again could make the A(H1N1) virus more deadly.

The A(H1N1) virus was created when genes from pig, bird and human viruses mixed together inside a pig. Experts fear the virus that has gone from humans back into pigs could mutate further before crossing back into humans again. No one can predict what will happen. It could lead to another wave of the epidemic leading to a disastrous pandemic.

With the mutation, it can go both ways. The A(H1N1) virus could gain virulence or it could become milder.

Pigs are of special concern because they share some basic biological similarities with humans, and they have served as the medium in which various flu strains have swapped genetic material.

There have been sporadic cases of pigs infecting humans with influenza in the past. Most cases resulted in mild symptoms, typically among people who were in close contact with sick pigs. A few deaths have been recorded, and limited human-to-human transmission also has been documented, but nothing sustained.

Given that the past three flu pandemics — the 1918 Spanish flu, the 1957-58 Asian flu and the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 — were all linked to birds, much of the global pandemic preparedness has focused on avian flus.

The focus has been on birds, and now we have a virus that’s coming from a swine reservoir and ending up as a human virus. It creates a lot of worry for the future. It is therefore important not to be complacent regarding the A(H1N1) virus. Symptoms may be mild but with the crossing of the species for the virus, the future may be uncertain.

Tags: A(H1N1), A(H1N1) virus, Virus Crossing Species

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.