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The Phases of Swine Flu


A process that happens if two different types of influenza virus infected a single cell and it can produce a new strain of influenza is called re-assortment. It will act as a “mixing vessel” in which re-assortment can occur between flu viruses of several species such as pigs are prone to influenza viruses that can also infect both humans and birds. This is because if the virus allows pieces of RNA from different viruses to mix together and form a novel type of virus as a new virus particles are being assembled from a virus splitting between eight independent pieces of RNA.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization raised the pandemic alert level from phase four to phase five, signaling that a pandemic is “imminent”.

To know more about different phases of Swine Flu as defined by the WHO, I enlisted six of them” defined by the WHO:

If a virus circulated among animals but there are no reported cases of infections to humans will fall under phase one. An example of this phase is an outbreak of flu symptoms in your hog race backyard.
In phase two there is an identified animal flu virus and caused infections to human, and it will be considered a potential pandemic threat.

An example is when the owner either the child or an adult within the hog race backyard got infected with a flu from their animal symptoms.
Phase 3 specified that a confirmed animal or human-animal flu virus has caused small outbreaks in human race, but has not resulted in human-to-human transmission that is sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks. An example in this phase is when a child within the hog race backyard got infected together with his father, his mother and his siblings.

Radically in Phase 4, there is a cause of community-level outbreaks of human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal flu virus. This phase will focus to contain the spreading of the virus. The United Nations will then inform different countries asking to advice their people such as traveling to containment areas. All countries with infected with the swine flu must also consider in deploying a pandemic vaccine. An example of this when the infected family member went out from their backyard decided to talk to his friends and unaware that hes spreading the virus.

In the 5th phase, if there are at least two countries in one region and spread the virus by means of human-to-human transmission. The signal of the pandemic is imminently strong. The infected countries are required to advise people with respiratory illnesses to stay home. There should be an advisory of suspension of classes. An example of this is when a man-infected virus either a family member or any of his friends travel to another neighboring country.

The sixth and final phase also called the pandemic phase. A pandemic phase is just like a spread of virus in phase 5 but extended at least one other country outside their geographic region. There must be an implementation of contingency plans of health systems in all levels. An example of this is when a man-infected virus travel to another continent.

Whatever phases of Swine Flu outbreak, we are experiencing in our country or geographic region we must prepare and prevent it to spread to lessen the death toll.

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Swine Flu Thousand Cases

A pandemic second quarter of 2009 outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) virus is a new strain of influenza virus identified commonly referred to as Swine Flu confirmed cases topped almost 6,000 individuals, as Belgium became the latest European nation to be hit by the influenza A(H1N1) virus. World Health Organization (WHO) officials said the number of cases of influenza A(H1N1) stood at around 6,000 and nearly 7,000 in more than 30 countries, with more than 60 people having died from the disease.

Cases were first discovered in the U.S. and officials soon suspected a link between those incidents and an earlier outbreak of late-season flu cases in Mexico. In less than a week hundreds of suspected cases, some of them serious, were discovered in Mexico. Soon thereafter, the WHO along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressed concern that the A(H1N1) could become a worldwide flu pandemic, and WHO then raised its pandemic disease alert level to “Phase 5″ out of the six maximum, as a “signal that a pandemic is at about to happen level”.

More than three thousand cases of infections including three deaths was the recorded highest number of A(H1N1) by the United States compared to Mexico where only more than two thousand reported cases of infection including 60 deaths were confirmed. The WHO said 389 people were also confirmed with the virus and one person had died in Canada who happens to be with the 19-year-old Chinese career that brings in to China a spread out. Two other cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong. Authorities there said they had quarantined six people who traveled with the second case, a 24-year-old man, by plane from San Francisco. A further 45 people who sat near him on his journey had already left Hong Kong, they said.

China, in the meantime, stepped up the search for people who came into contact with the mainland’s two confirmed Swine Flu patients. A 30-year-old man was confirmed to have the virus in the southwestern city of Chengdu. He had been in the United States before his homecoming to China. Plane (Air Canada flight to Beijing) and train (for Shandong Province with 20 people on board) travelers with a 5 meter contact with a 19-year-old student (his surname is Lu: second confirmed victim) are being haunted by Chinese Authorities in Beijing and Eastern Shandong province.

Hes not feeling well, a couple of days after his arrival in Beijing but still continue to travel by train with a fever, sore throat and a headache. They believed that virus highlighted in China and Hong Kong could be a mix of bird and human flu which came together in pigs.

Belgium confirmed its first case of Swine Flu in a 28-year-old man who also had been in the United States. Jose Angel Cordova (Health Minister of Mexico) moved to reassure tourists, saying that the country’s beaches and resorts an important source of foreign income — were safe for visitors. “There’s no risk to tourists,” he said, noting that most of the flu cases detected in holiday hotspots like Cancun and Acapulco dated back nearly two weeks.

The Swine Flu outbreak was expected to cost Mexico’s economy of more than 2 billion dollars or about 0.3 percent of gross domestic product.

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Don’t Touch That Pork: A Few Swine Flu Truths And Myths

With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth involved with the latest flu outbreak, I think it’s time we set a few things straight about the swine flu. Think of it as a little public service announcement just to shock some of you out of that panic and get you thinking straight.

First of all, pork is safe. Yes, I know it’s called swine flu but it’s nothing like mad cow disease. That’s why there’s a flu at the end instead of disease, of course. The disease spreads via the same way normal flu spreads: contact with a contaminated area or person then contact with either the eyes, nose, or mouth of the prospective infected. Cooked pork can’t possibly be ever infected because cooking and preparation make sure that the meat is clean and healthy for consumption. So, yeah, no need to worry about the ham and bacon in the supermarket.

Secondly, there’s a treatment. Zanamivir and oseltamivir are neuroaminidase inhibitors which is a fancy description of what they do; they’re a type of antiviral drugs that inhibits cell reproduction of viruses so that they won’t spread in the patient’s body. The Center for Disease Control has highly recommended their use for the treatment and control of the disease. Actually, if you find yourself sick, you can do initial treatment via the normal over-the-counter antibiotics that you use when dealing with the normal flu. These can help make the symptoms more bearable and help your body resist the disease better. Those and quite a bit of bed rest can go a long way to make you feel better.

Thirdly, it’s not gonna kill us all. Even at the height of the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, with its more than fifty million worldwide death count, the human race wasn’t exactly in danger. Plagues and diseases have been a part of human civilization and history for years. Humans have a way of surviving and infections eventually burn out, one of the disadvantages of killing your hosts too quickly. The bodycount may pile high but no natural disease can eliminate the human species that easily. Besides, like I mentioned earlier, it is treatable and you can recover from it.

Fourth, it’s not that contagious. Okay, yeah, it’s contagious, but like all diseases it has its particular infection vectors and if you know those vectors, a disease can easily be avoided. In this case, swine flu it may be, but it’s still the flu. This means it spreads through the contact points I said earlier. Regularly washing your hands before eating is a step in the right direction and, also, not hanging around sick people, though that one should be pretty obvious.

Fifth, it’s still the flu. The description maybe a bit vague and the name exotic, but it’s still the flu in the beginning. You’ll know you’re from it the same way you know you’re sick from the flu: colds, coughs, chills, and fatigue. That’s the initial stuff though. If you were smart, you’d have taken your antibiotics and lessened the effects. If you’re okay after a few days, that was just the normal flu. However, if the symptoms persist, and you start to vomit or start to suffer from diarrhea, then it’s swine flu and you better call for a doctor.

Well, that’s all then. Hopefully, these bits of information help clear up a few things about the swine flu and help you to undestand the currect situation the world is in.

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