Swine Flu!

This is definitely one of the tritest topics to date and I feel like shooting myself for bringing it up. Generally speaking, there is not a lot that no one knows about this crisis.

Nevertheless, it is an issue that is significantly current and one that has been antagonizing  America for awhile now. I just want to address some serious misconceptions and ignorant attitudes that have surfaced.

Meet H1N1 Influenza but it’d rather go by the infamous name of swine flu. The new menace that’s been making headlines along with other sore issues like health care reform. Not to worry though, at least there is a more rational and long-term solution for swine flu than health care reform.

The only problem is some people are not aware of the urgency or the need to control this new pandemic. It is not about propaganda or trying to have people living in fear. It may have the same patterns and symptoms as the regular flu but if anyone thinks that that’s all it is, they should seriously reconsider. This is the flu reloaded, coming back in its biggest and “baddest” state waging another war against mankind and the scary part is that it could win.

Swine flu is a mixture of the avian and human virus that causes a new strain in an infected pig. The new strain is the result of the avian and human viruses mixing with each other’s RNA. Once the new strain is formed, it can be transmitted from a pig to a person.

     ”The pigs are important, but they’re a little bit of — if you’ll excuse the expression, a red herring because this particular virus is not a pure swine virus. It’s one-third human virus, one-third bird virus and one-third pig virus. And the ability of this virus to make itself into new shapes — it kind of shuffles itself like a pack of cards with different viruses — is what causes new viruses to emerge, and that’s what starts pandemics,” according to epidemiologist Dr. Susan P. Fisher-Hoch from the University of Texas School of Public Health.

There’s no doubt that swine flu has had a major impact in the U.S. There are many cases of schools closing down, a friend or roommate that had to be quarantined and children dying.

Another reason why swine flu raises massive concern all over the world is because our relentless army of scientists can’t really pinpoint or come up with a strategy to defeat the virus.  That is why it’s such a big deal because they are yet to predict the strain of the flu. There are mixed theories and calculations that the virus may mutate or remain stable. Ultimately, they are frantically trying to solve a pandemic puzzle.

“A single person gets infected with more than one virus at the same time. Those two viruses — which are quite different — get into the same cell. Each virus has eight little pieces of its genome … and when it gets in a cell it takes it coats off, and out pops its eight little pieces. Well if you’ve got two viruses in a cell, now you imagine yourself sixteen little pieces … eight little matching pairs, and then shuffle it like a pack of cards, and you come out with eight and eight, and you will see that you’ve got some different combinations.” Fisher-Hoch said.

Basically, the virus has made a shift in influenza. This happens every year with a “drift” which are tiny changes in the virus that require a new vaccine every year. However, the virus has taken a completely different shape which is called a shift.

“A shift results in a pandemic, and that’s what we … haven’t seen since 1967, so we were kind of overdue for this — it used to happen every ten years or so, and we haven’t had one for 30 years, so we really are overdue.” Fisher-Hoch added.

No kidding, swine flu has been planning and waiting for a long time to carry out its evil plot and is doing so with a vengeance. 

As of Sept. 4, 2009, there have been 33,902 cases and 593 deaths in the U.S. and more than 254,206 cases and at least 2,837 deaths worldwide due to the H1N1 virus according to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO.)

In July 2009, Federal health officials told Congress would be available to produce a vaccine if necessary. It’s nothing to think twice about, the vaccine is necessary.

“ One choice already is made: The U.S. government has spent $1.15 billion to buy enough vaccine to immunize the entire U.S. population against the new flu. If the government makes the decision to go ahead with a full-scale vaccination program, it would be the largest, fastest vaccination program in world history,” an article from WebMD

This is no joke. This is not just another casual and regular flu season. The U.S. government and various medical organizations around the globe are constantly working hard and breaking serious bank to keep this  dangerous  menace at bay. If anybody happens to be exhibiting symptoms of the flu during this season, chances are that they might be prone to or carry swine flu. No need to freak out though. The virus is easy to avoid or survive if common sense and preventive measures are taken.

There’s no need to go into detail what those preventive measures are. After all, swine flu is not a lot that nobody knows about, right?