Influenza A H1N1, an almost pandemic. What you need to know!

What:

• A contagious respiratory disease originally among pigs and now among humans through direct contact/ person to person transmission and touch.
• The virus involved is traced back to the Spanish pandemic in 1918.
• WHO deemed H1N1 outbreak as stage 5. (It is one step behind from becoming a world wide pandemic)
• 109 cases reported in the USA.

Symptoms for clinical differentiation:

1. Rhinorrhea
2. Sore throat
3. Cough
4. Fever above 100 deg F

The most important fact is that the patient presenting these symptoms must firstly have had contact with a sick person and secondly should have presented the symptoms 7 days from the day of contact. Symptoms appearing 2-3 weeks from the last infectious contact is NOT TERMED AS SWINE FLU.

Prescribed treatment:
Zanamivir and Oseltamivir
Stay home (at least for a week)
Sneeze into a cloth/sleeve to avoid spread

Latest outbreak first reported: March 18 2009

Debatable concern:
Production of the Influenza A H1N1 vaccination is reducing the vaccination production for seasonal flu.
Swine flu may have aggravated other overlying diseases. Mortality cases in Mexico solely due to Swine Flu not confirmed.


Resource: Medscape