The SwineFlu Bandwagon
SwineFlu
I’m not really jumping on the SwineFlu (H1N1) bandwagon, I have noticed that there are many sites springing up offering facts and advice on SwineFlu, its properties, spread, avoidance and treatment. I would like to take this opportunity to inform any reader that if they are concerned about their health or the health of somebody else then they should consult the recomended actions for the area that they live in. Seek the advice of your local health professionals through the means that have been put in place for you. DO NOT rely on this page for advice on treatment or actions in the case of illness. (Hope I’ve made myself clear).
My trigger for writing this is simple, as a medical professional I wish to be well informed about health issues and therefore, better placed to offer advice in my role at work.
I wanted to pull together a number of resources, so that I could be better informed and my blog could act as a jumping off point for future forays into my quest for knowledge on this subject.
Well here goes:
What is SwineFlu (H1N1)
Swine influenza is a disease in pigs. The virus currently transmitting directly among people is now generally referred to as swine flu although the origin of the disease is still under investigation. There is no evidence of this strain of the disease circulating in pigs in the UK.
Swine flu, or influenza A (H1N1), is a respiratory disease that infects pigs and is caused by a flu virus. There are regular outbreaks of swine flu in pigs, which become ill but rarely die from the virus. Swine flu does not normally infect humans although this does occasionally happen when people have had close contact with pigs.
There is evidence that swine flu is spreading from person to person, which could lead to what is called a ‘pandemic flu outbreak’. Pandemic flu is different from ordinary flu because it is a new strain of the virus that appears in humans and spreads quick
Who is at risk?
Swine flu is a new virus so no-one will have immunity to it and everyone could be at risk of catching it. This includes healthy adults as well as older people and children.
What is pandemic flu?
Pandemic flu occurs when an influenza virus emerges that is so different from previously circulating strains that few, if any, people have any immunity to it. This allows it to spread widely and rapidly, causing serious illness.
Ordinary flu and pandemic flu – the differences
The differences between ordinary flu and pandemic flu include:
Ordinary flu
* occurs every year during the winter
* affects 10 to 15 per cent of the UK popuation
* most people recover within 1 or 2 weeks without medical treatment
* can be identified in advance and a vaccine can be made (this immunisation is known as the flu jab and helps protect people from ordinary flu)
Pandemic flu
* occurs during any season
* affects more people than ordinary flu (up to half the population)
* is a more serious infection
* people of all ages may be at risk of infection
* a vaccine cannot be made because the virus strain has not been identifed
* antiviral medicine is stockpiled to treat people
Symptoms
Flu symptoms can include:
* fever
* cough
* headache
* weakness and fatigue
* aching muscles and joints
* sore throat
* runny nose
In the case of pandemic flu, these symptoms are likely to be worse.
Where is SwineFlu?
The ‘Health Map’ site brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization).
Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.
The following link HealthMap | Global disease alert map. should take you to the map for swineflu but you can also view other diseases.
Avoidance
Currently the best advice on avoidence is good hygeine. There are a number of public campaigns advising people to ensure that the cough and sneeze into a tissue to catch the virus, bin the tissue, ensure you wash your hands properly.
Sounds like good advice to me.
Disclaimer
This is my personal weblog. It’s my view on the events that interest me from daily life. The opinions expressed here by myself are not necessarily those of my employer.
Any content created and posted on this blog is the copyright of Ian Thomas. Any re-publishing of this content without my express permission is strictly prohibited. The RSS feeds for this site are for personal use only. Comments are enabled on posts however I reserve the right to remove any I deem inappropriate. If you don’t like this then create your own blog where you can post whatever you like.
Thanks for the disclaimer go to Jon Bullock, cheers matey.
