What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.
How does swine flu spread?
Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Understandably, US authorities - following the lead of the World Health Organization (WHO) - have declared a "public health emergency."
The virulent new H1N1 swine flu strain spreads quickly and efficiently from human to human. It's "a completely novel virus," says the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This latest variant is a mixture of human virus, bird virus, and pig viruses from all over the world. Swine flu fears aren't new in the United States. In February 1976, a 19-year-old army private at Fort Dix, New Jersey, died within 24 hours of becoming infected with swine flu. As a result, several hundred people developed Guillain- Barré syndrome, a serious neurological condition, and the immunization program was stopped.
(The flu shot from last fall, for instance, won't combat this strain).
"No single action will provide complete protection," the CDC notes, but taking a few steps can help reduce the likelihood of transmission of swine flu (or many other infections).
1. Sanitize -- i.e. Wash Your Hands Frequently. The CDC estimates that 80 percent of all infections are spread by hands. If you can't wash your hands regularly, try hand-sanitizers with 60 percent alcohol content.
2. Avoid -- i.e. Engage in "Social Distancing." By contrast, 58 percent of people who work from home and 88 per cent of those who walk to work caught a cold last winter).
If you need to go someplace crowded, the CDC says, try to spend as little time as possible and try to stay six feet away from potentially infected people. Swine flu symptoms are similar to regular flu: Fever, body aches, sore throat, cough, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy. If you don't feel well, seek medical attention. Swine flu will dominate news headlines in the days ahead.
AP: Mexico health chief optimistic; more US cases
Mexico's top medical officer voiced optimism Thursday that swine flu has slowed in the nation hardest hit by the virus, but the World Health Organization cautioned there is no evidence the worst of the global outbreak is over.
The U.S. caseload rose slightly to 130 as hundreds of schools nationwide shut their doors, and the crisis even reached the White House, which said an aide to the secretary of energy apparently got sick helping arrange a presidential trip to Mexico.
European health ministers vowed to work quickly with drugmakers to rush a vaccine into production, but American health officials suggested inoculations could not begin until fall at the earliest.
Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova told The Associated Press new cases have leveled off and the death rate has been nearly flat for several days. The health ministry, which earlier said 168 people were believed killed by swine flu in Mexico, on Thursday would only confirm 12 of those deaths and would not say how many were suspected.
The World Health Organization's top flu official, responding to similarly hopeful remarks from other Mexican officials, sounded a more cautious note about whether the virus had peaked.
Mexico has imposed what amounts to a five-day shutdown of the country, beginning Friday, in hopes of slowing the virus. Fukuda said Thursday there were no immediate signs that warranted declaring a Phase 6 pandemic.
Phase 5 means a virus has spread into at least two countries and is causing large outbreaks. The only confirmed U.S. swine flu death so far is a Mexican toddler who succumbed earlier this week in Texas. New cases of swine flu were confirmed Thursday in Europe, but no deaths have been reported outside North America.
In the United States, Vice President Joe Biden stirred concern by saying in an NBC interview that he would discourage family members from flying or even taking the subway because of the swine flu threat.
The White House insisted Biden meant to say he was discouraging nonessential travel to Mexico, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was compelled to state flatly: "It is safe to fly. There is no reason to cancel flights."
An aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu apparently got sick helping arrange President Barack Obama's recent trip to Mexico. The U.S. is taking extraordinary precautions, including shipping millions of doses of anti-flu drugs to states. Scientists cannot predict what a new virus might do, and the outbreak could always resurge later.
"I don't want anybody to have false expectations," Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Craig Vanderwagen said. In hopes of avoiding confusion, the WHO announced it will stop using the term "swine flu," opting for the bug's scientific name, H1N1 influenza A. Obama administration officials have also pointedly referred to the virus as H1N1 in recent days.
Canada, New Zealand, Britain, Germany, Spain, Israel and Austria also have confirmed cases.
Already, the looming shutdown was being felt in Mexico City. Mexico City's infamous smog dropped to levels normally seen only on holidays.
Cordova told the AP that the extraordinary measures undertaken in Mexico were starting to work. Most of the Mexicans hospitalized with confirmed cases of swine flu have already been released, and he expects the suspected death toll to drop as health officials do further tests.
Swine flu is a mix of pig, bird and human genes to which people have limited natural immunity. It has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu — fever, cough and sore throat — and spreads similarly, through tiny particles in the air, when people cough or sneeze. About 36,000 people die each year of flu in the United States.
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