If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

An outbreak of an epidemics of Swine Flu has caused dozens of deaths during the last weeks and has raised the concern of the World Health Organization, as it seems to spread to California and the Southern states at the Mexico-US borderline.

The virus is a new variety of Swine Flu, which unusually combines the genetic material of humans, pigs and birds. According to WHO, the virus is passed from human to human. Until now, it has infected more than 1000 people in Mexico, so it might be logical to think of a very contagious disease.

Passengers of train in Mexico carry their masks to avoid the infection of Swine Flu

The residents of Mexico D.F. has given in donation surgical masks and Felipe Calderon - President of the Republic of Mexico - did attend a meeting with his cabinet of Ministers to coordinate the actions to face the current epidemia. Many public places has been ordered to shutdown to avoid the massive infection, specially the hospitals, where the citizens were told to go only in case of emergency.

The Center for the Control of Diseases (CDC) in Atlanta, has already isolated a strain of the virus (Swine Influenza Virus H1N1) and is currently hurrying with the tests. Until now, no vaccine has proven to be effective. Nevertheless, there are two drugs that work to treat the disease, if applied at the early stages: oseltamivir and zanamivir.

On the other side, US health officials are warning the travellers to Mexico to avoid intimate contact and following the appropriate prophylactic measures, such as washing hands.

The virus is the answer to the long-ago concern of pathologists, who have been speculating with the possibility of a new form of influenza virus, capable of evolving while it infects a pig, a person or a bird and mingles their genomic material. As the immune system of persons do not recognize the antigen (the new virus), the natural defenses may not respond promptly to the attack and the succeeding disease is potentially lethal. The virus might carry the potential to even cause a global pandemia.

UPDATE:

According to the Center for Control of Diseases, the Swine Flu has been diagnosed in 20 patients inside the US, from the states described in the following table.

U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection

State	# of laboratory confirmed cases
California	7 cases
Kansas	2 cases
New York City	8 cases
Ohio	1 case
Texas	2 cases
TOTAL COUNT	20 cases
International Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection See: World Health Organization
As of April 26, 2009 9:00 AM ET

The Health Authorities  of the US have raised a Public Health Alarm, as the opinion of the CDC is that the disease is spreading fast and more càses shall be seen soon. Spain and New Zealand have also reported cases of the Swine Flu, which in the past was transmitted only by the contact with pigs.

The CDC has issued the following set of recommendations to avoid being infected.

There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

• Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
• If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Via: Discovery News, Center for Control of Diseases

Random Posts

• April 25, 2009 -- Goodbye to Geocities, Yahoo moves on to Paid Webhosting (0)
• April 17, 2009 -- Debate over the appearance of oxygenated atmosphere (1)
• April 21, 2009 -- Mitchell assures that there is extraterrestrial forms of life (0)
• October 26, 2007 -- Germs come back more destructive after being sent to space (2)
• April 22, 2009 -- MINERvA working on the sight of its first neutrinos (0)
• May 27, 2009 -- Real BroadBand Internet Access (0)
• May 17, 2008 -- Live Tv, The Power to the People through Technology (0)
• May 8, 2009 -- Webhosting Geeks tips (0)
• June 4, 2009 -- Contact Lenses (0)
• April 21, 2009 -- Build Employee Accountability (0)