Swine Flu - from Thomas P.M. Barnett

[Dreammaker]

October could be a bad month. Then, again, who knows?

Swine Flu Deaths - How Many People Will Die from Swine Flu? - Esquire

 

[arrbsthw]

Ever wonder why we didn't have Swine Flu last year? Only
in the last 6 months have I ever heard of swine flu or H1N1 as it's now called.

 

[RLENT]

Ever wonder why we didn't have Swine Flu last year?

Ahhh .... but we did ..... well at least the swine had it .... some place, somewhere ....

Swine Flu has been around a very, very long time ....

Influenza viruses can jump from birds or pigs (swine) to humans .... or in the reverse direction (we infect them)

Viruses can mutate into different forms .... largely by two or more different strains combining to make a new unique strain. When they mutate they can become more virulent within a new species, where perhaps the individual strains weren't before - so a flu strain (or strains) that is/are virulent to a pig can become a hybrid one that is virulent to humans.

There were quite possibly a number of different strains (or sub-types) of swine flu existing in the world last year ..... but they didn't mutate and become particularly virulent within the human species, AFAIK.

Only in the last 6 months have I ever heard of swine flu or H1N1 as it's now called.

Ever hear of the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918 ?

Well ....... that was a strain of Influenza A (H1N1) .... a particularly nasty one to be sure.

The current 2009 "Swine flu" virus is a bit of a misnomer - and the virus itself is an oddity - because it isn't a strictly swine flu only virus - the current strain (2009 H1N1) is actually composed of genetic material from FOUR different flu strains: North American Mexican influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and swine influenza virus typically found in Asia and Europe.

This specific strain actually is not a strain that has ever been observed before in swine.

Here's a link if you want to know more:

Swine Flu

 

[layoutshooter]

It is un-known if this outbreak of "swine flu" will be as bad as 1918 but it is not as likely to kill as many in the more modern countries as it did bad then. We know SO much more about care than we did back then. A simple thing like IV fluids to combat dehydration will save many. The problem is the way it attacks the lungs on young otherwise healthy people. Just as it did back then.