Swine Influenza

2009-05-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

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Swine influenza

(also called swine flu, hog flu, and pig flu) refers to influenza caused by those strains of influenza virus, called swine influenza virus (SIV), that usually infect pigs. Swine influenza is common in pigs in the midwestern United States (and occasionally in other states), Mexico, Canada, South America, Europe (including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Italy), Kenya, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and other parts of eastern Asia. Transmission of swine influenza virus from pigs to humans is not common and properly

cooked pork poses no risk of infection. When transmitted, the virus does not always cause human influenza and often the only sign of infection is the presence of antibodies in the blood, detectable only by laboratory tests. When transmission results in influenza in a human, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine flu. However, only about fifty such transmissions have been recorded since the mid-20th century, when identification of influenza subtypes became possible. Rarely, these strains of swine flu can pass from human to human. In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.
There are antiviral medicines you can take to prevent or treat swine flu. There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu. You can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza by
Covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

Washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. You can also use alcohol-based hand cleaners.
Avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
Trying to avoid close contact with sick people.
Staying home from work or school if you are sick.

2009 flu outbreak in humans, known as "swine flu", is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that contained genes most closely related to swine influenza. The origin of this new strain is unknown. However, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reports that this strain has not been isolated in pigs. This strain can be transmitted from human to human, and causes the normal symptoms of influenza

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What scientists know about swine flu

Emma Wilkinson Health reporter, BBC News

Preliminary analysis of the swine flu virus suggests it is a fairly mild strain, scientists say.
It is believed that a further mutation would be needed in order for the H1N1 virus to cause the mass deaths that have been estimated by some.
But at this point, it is impossible to predict with any accuracy how the virus will continue to evolve.
UK experts at the National Institute for Medical Research outlined on Friday the work they are due to start on samples of the virus sent from the US.
The research, being done at the World Influenza Centre in Mill Hill, will be vital for working out the structure of the virus, where it came from, how quickly it is capable of spreading and its potential to cause illness.

Structure
Analysis done so far suggests what they are dealing with is a mild virus and nowhere near as dangerous as the H5N1 avian flu strain that has caused scientists so much concern over the past decade.

Influenza A viruses are classified according to two proteins on the outer surface of the virus - hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N).
The swine flu strain is a H1N1 virus, the same type as seasonal flu which circulates throughout the world every year, and kills roughly 0.1% of those infected or higher in an epidemic year.

Professor Wendy Barclay, chair in influenza virology at Imperial College London says initial indications suggest there is nothing about the genetic make-up of the new virus which is a cause for particular concern.

The key to its potential lies largely in the H1 protein.

"There are two aspects - one is which receptors the virus tends to bind to and what we see is that it is binding to the upper respiratory tract rather than deep in the lungs."

When a flu virus binds to the upper respiratory tract, it tends to cause mild illness but can be easily spread as people cough and sneeze, Professor Barclay explains.

If a virus binds further down in the lungs, it tends to cause much more severe illness, as in the case of the H5N1 avian flu virus which has caused concern in recent years.

"With the H1 gene we also look at the cleavage site," she adds.
"The virus has to be cut into two pieces to be active and it uses an enzyme in the host to do that.
"Most influenza viruses are restricted to the respiratory tract because they use enzymes in the lungs.

"But some, like H5 viruses can evolve to cut into two pieces outside the lungs, so they can replicate outside the respiratory tract."
Analysis

These initial indications are largely guesswork from looking at the genetic sequence of the virus and comparing that to what is known from work on other influenza viruses.

It will take weeks and months of biological analysis to properly get a handle on the potential of the H1N1 virus.

The team at Mill Hill, one of four World Health Organisation's centres for influenza research will be working in close collaboration with the Health Protection Agency who are carrying out testing in the UK, and their findings will also feed into the development of a potential vaccine.

Soon, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge will begin the genetic sequencing of the virus and will also be monitoring any mutations or changes in how virulent it is.

However, there is one other reassuring aspect about what is known so far.

That is there seems to be nothing unusual as yet in another protein in the centre of the virus, called NS1, which is linked to the strength of the immune response the virus produces.

In some more pathogenic viruses, it is this NS1 protein which initiates a "cytokine storm", a particularly severe immune reaction that can be fatal in even healthy young people.

Predictions

Scientists have also played down concerns that the milder H1N1 virus, could combine with the more dangerous H5N1 avian flu virus, causing a super virus that has the ability to both spread easily between humans and cause severe illness.

This is unlikely - or at least just as unlikely as it ever was and the H5N1 virus has been around for a decade without combining with normal seasonal flu.

Professor Jonathan Ball, an expert in molecular virology at the University of Nottingham said: "The chance of swine H1N1 combining with H5N1 is as likely as any other strain recombining.

"What this outbreak does highlight is how difficult it is to predict new pandemic strains.
"Many people suspected that H5N1 was the most likely candidate for the next pandemic strain, but now it appears that this was a mistake - but that's not to say H5N1 or another reassortment

containing parts of H5N1 may not happen in the future.
"That's the trouble - you can't predict."

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As flu fears ease, Mexico gets ready to re-open

By: AFP
Published: 6/05/2009 at 03:56 PM
Mexico emerged Wednesday from a five-day lockdown, reopening businesses and restaurants shuttered by swine flu, as a second death from the virus was recorded over the border in the United States.

While the worldwide total of infections approached the 1,500 mark, health officials expressed cautious optimism that the worst was over as they began easing restrictions designed to contain the spread of the A(H1N1) virus.

Mexico, the epicenter of the crisis, was taking its first steps towards a resumption of normality with offices and restaurants cleared to reopen from Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, high schools and universities were to open, to be followed by primary schools and kindergartens next Monday.
There was no immediate word however when cinemas, theaters and nightclubs in Mexico City would be permitted to open their doors again.
The emergence of the virus, a new strain that has combined human, swine and bird influenza, set off fears of a worldwide pandemic, even though only 31 people have been confirmed dead -- a number in line with any "normal" flu bug.

World health officials have tallied 1,490 people infected around the globe so far, including 29 deaths in Mexico, while countries have imposed a range of measures to prevent a dangerous and massively deadly global outbreak.

Hundreds of people were still under quarantine at a hotel in Hong Kong, where health authorities sealed off the premises for seven days up until next Friday, and where memories are still fresh of the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak.

In the United States, meanwhile, officials announced the first US national to die since the outbreak -- a woman who had chronic underlying conditions, officials said. It was only the second flu death recorded outside of Mexico.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it expected "more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths from this outbreak" in the weeks ahead.

But at the same time, US health authorities eased the restrictions for school closures, a move seen as a possible sign that the worst of the outbreak might well be over.
"This is presenting itself more like seasonal flu," said US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Although the worst initial fears about the outbreak have not been realized, Mexican officials said they estimated it had cost the country 2.3 billion dollars.

The tourism sector was hit hard and the five-day shutdown also took its toll in a nation that was already struggling because of the worldwide economic slowdown.

Hotels in the capital were down to 10 percent occupancy, and foreign visitors were absent from the city center and from popular tourist sites such as the country's famed Aztec pyramids, which were made off-limits.

While only China -- the origin of the 2003 SARS epidemic -- and a handful of Latin American countries cut travel ties with Mexico, several airlines, tour companies and cruise lines suspended trips to the country.

The incident strained relations between Mexico and China when 70 Mexican nationals, most or all without flu symptoms, were placed under quarantine in China after one Mexican citizen in Hong Kong was confirmed to have been infected. They were eventually flown home on Tuesday.
Meanwhile a group of Chinese nationals who had been stranded in Mexico returned home before being immediately quarantined.

All 119 passengers and crew on a government-chartered Boeing 777 were isolated after arriving at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport, a local government spokesman told AFP.
Separately, about 200 British soldiers were released late Tuesday after being held overnight in Brunei when they arrived from Britain, where 27 people have been infected with the disease.
Officials said the decision to isolate the soldiers -- in Brunei for military training -- was a precautionary measure.

There is no dedicated vaccine against the new A(H1N1) virus, but the World Health Organization said it was sending 2.4 million courses of anti-viral drug Tamiflu to 72 nations around the world to combat the outbreak.

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Pork prices cut to spur weak retail demand

By: PHUSADEE ARUNMAS
Published: 30/04/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business

Even though the outlook for pork prices is already poor because of concerns about swine flu, pork producers and retailers agreed yesterday to voluntarily cut retail prices by 5-10 baht per kilogramme. The agreement came after the Commerce Ministry recommended that the retail price be based on a revised profit margin structure for butchers, wholesalers and retailers, according to Yanyong Phuangrach, the director-general of the ministry's Internal Trade Department.

Mr Yanyong met a group of pig raisers, butchers, retailers and wet-market operators yesterday to discuss pork prices and the swine flu.

Under the current formula, the retail price is equivalent to the farm price multiplied by two, plus two baht a kilogramme.

But the department recommends the retail price be equivalent to the wholesale price plus 7% profit.

For instance, if the current wholesale price of cut pigs stands at 112 baht a kilogramme, the retail price should stand at around 120 baht.

Surachai Sutthitham, president of the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand, said that members had agreed to freeze farm prices at 61-65 baht per kg as long as possible to help cap retail prices.
Local pork prices are relatively high at 120-135 baht per kilogramme, as hot weather has slowed growth in pigs bred for slaughter. Rising costs for animal feed and higher production costs in recent years have prompted local farmers to shun the pig farming business.

According to Mr Surachai, 11.76 million pigs will be raised in Thailand this year, a drop from 12.09 million in 2008 and 13.13 million four years ago.

to suspend imports of foreign pork, offal and mashed pork scrap used as raw materials in animal feed.

Thailand imports about 14,000 tonnes of swine products a year, mostly innards.
However, Mr Surachai noted the import suspension was unlikely to affect local pork prices

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My Reactions

- Swine flu or H1N1 is an Influenza A viruses that combines with two proteins on the outer surface of the virus - hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). as you know the information from the news that the swine flu do not spread from pig to human but it spread from human to human so pig does not deal with this situation much.

- Always checking news that involved with the swine flu up to date all the time because the situation is not stable.

- Even the swine flu not found in Thailand yet but we should prepare and keep the eyes open find the information about flu like causes and effect the way to protected from the swine flu.

- When we knew and got the right information that pigs can not carrier the virus to human so, I still eat pork as I have been before because in this country pork is a main dish in various menus.

- Eat pork not only for a main dish but also help the economic system according to the pork price cut because of the swine flu if the educated people still eat pork as before they did the situation may get better.

- The way that this virus spread from human to human is the actions that people cough or sneeze in the air and the virus attaches to receptor in the nose and throat and attaches to receptor deep in the lungs so we can avoid it.

- This period we should go to see the doctor immediately if someone got sick and shows that they have a fever or the symptom of sickness from the swine flu.

- Wash my hands often because it can reduce the risk of contract to the virus.

- Try to get the information about this virus like talk to people to exchange the knowledge and up to date.

Conclusion

Virus is so dangerous to the humankind and also it can not predict when it causes Moreover, scientists worry that virus H1N1 may get stronger and more dangerous if it combine with H5N1 or bird flu event this virus is so far away and not causes in Thailand yet but This day the story that people keep an eyes on is about the swine flu or virus H1N1. The swine flu is originates in Mexico and America. More than 90 years ago human has been killed by virus H1N1 more than 40 million moreover, virus H1N1 is spread faster than H5N1 or bird flu. this virus is carrier by pig. From the report this virus is not spread or infected from pig to human but it can infected from human to human even if the swine flu not found in Thailand but this story could be interpreted in current affair because this is importance to human’s life we should know the dept detail or information of this virus to protected life and know the way to cure.
When we get information about thing we should rearize it bacause i think this disease maybe occur and get mutation in the future.