Swine Flu is a number one health concern the world over. The H1N1 flu or Swine Flu was first detected in US in April 2009. The worst affected areas initially were Canada and Mexico before H1N1 flu cases began to emerge in other areas of the world. In a short span of four months, the disease has spread to almost all regions in the world. World Health Organization has called H1N1 as pandemic which means a big epidemic that involves the entire country or perhaps the world. Usually, the signs of a pandemic are when a virus without any immunity to stop it, spreads across various parts of the world.

Risk factors of Swine Flu
Swine Flu spreads from person to person in the same way as regular seasonal influenza viruses spread. People with high risk for seasonal flu are also at high risk for H1N1 flu. For example, people above 65 years of age, pregnant women, children below 5 years of age and those with chronic medical conditions and lifestyle diseases like diabetes are at high risk.

Symptoms of Swine Flu
In children, the symptoms of H1N1 virus include:
1. Rapid Breathing or Difficulty in breathing.
2. Grayish or Bluish Skin Color
3. Dehydration
4. Persistent of severe vomiting
5. Not able to interact properly with people, become irritable
6. Flu like symptoms, bad cough and fever

In adults, the symptoms of swine flu include:
1. Shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing
2. Pain in chest or abdomen
3. Sudden dizziness or loss of energy
4. Severe or continuous vomiting
6. Flu like symptoms, bad cough and fever

The symptoms of H1N1 is similar to the ones that people get in regular, seasonal flu and so things like fever, sneezing, cough, body ache, head ache, shivering, sore throat and fatigue are common. Diarrhea and vomiting are also symptoms that have been associated with some cases of this flu, also known as Influenza A.

How do I catch swine flu?
H1N1 is transmitted the same way like seasonal flu. Flu viruses are spread usually from person to person through sneezing or coughing by people who have influenza. Some people may become infected with the deadly H1N1 by touching something that has virus on it and then bringing to their nose or mouth.

How can someone with swine flu infect it to someone else?
Infected people can actually infect others from the first day itself, even before they themselves get any symptoms. This means there are also chances that one can pass on the symptoms of flu even before she or he knows that she or he is sick.

How do I protect myself from swine flu? How can I take precautions against H1N1virus?
There is no vaccine that can protect you or be prevention against H1N1 Flu. You can only maintain hygiene and take care to prevent spread of germs that can lead to illnesses like influenza. Here are the ways in which you can prevent yourself against the flu:

1. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you sneeze or cough. Throw the tissue in the trash after you sneeze into it.

2. Wash your hands with a liquid handwash like Dettol or Lifebuoy, especially after you cough or sneeze.

3. Do not touch your mouth, eyes or nose. Germs can spread in this manner.

4. Avoid contact with people who are infected. This is sad but then the disease is highly infective.

5. If you are sick with influenza, stay at home and do not go to school or work. Limit your contact with people so that they do not get infected.

6. Do not venture into crowded spaces.

7. Increase the airflow in your room by opening the windows for proper ventilation.

8. Sleep well, eat nutritious food and practise healthy habits so that you are physically active and immune to the flu.

How long can the Swine Flu virus stay on things like doorknobs and furniture?
According to medical experts, the influenza virus can stay on environmental surfaces and infect people from 2 to 8 hours after being deposited on things like door knobs, books etc. Germs of H1N1 can spread when a person touches infected areas or infected people and then touches their eyes, ears, nose or mouth. Cough droplets or sneeze from an infected person can travel through the area. When a person comes in contact with droplets of sneeze of another person or touches things like books or desk of that person that is contaminated with sneeze droplets, and touches his or her own eyes, mouth, nose etc; before washing hands, one can contract the virus.

What are the medicines and treatment options?
Taking oseltamivir(Tamiflu) or zanamivir(Relenza) can treat H1N1 but they should be taken in the early stages of the disease. Antiviral drugs or prescription medicines can make your immune system strong and keep the flu viruses at bay and stop them from reproducing in your body. So, you should start taking antiviral drugs within two days of getting H1N1 or influenza symptoms.

How do I prevent getting H1N1 in high risk areas?
If you live in places where people have been infected with H1N1 virus or have influenza like symptoms mentioned above, then you should stay home and avoid contact with these people. If you develop flu like symptoms, do not leave things to chance and take instant medical care. Your health care provider or doctor will be able to tell you whether H1N1 flu testing is required.

Does WHO recommend using a MASK?
If you are not sick or if you are not living in high risk areas, it is not required to wear a mask. If a near and dear one is sick with H1N1, you need to wear a mask since you will be in close contact with the ill person. Dispose the mask after contact and wash and clean your hands thoroughly. Using the mask correctly is important because using it incorrectly will spread infection.

How can I differentiate between H1N1 Swine Flu and seasonal flu?
You cannot tell the difference without a medical verdict on it. Since symptoms for both the diseases are same like cough, headache, sneezing, fever, runny nose etc, only your doctor will be able to say if you have H1N1 virus. In case, your doctor suspects symptoms, they will have your blood sample, nasopharyngeal (nose to mouth) and throat swab to laboratories.

Home remedies for swine flu:
There are no home remedies, especially when you have to figure out if it is H1N1 or season flu. The H1N1 requires anti-viral drugs because treating it is an emergency issue. However you can prevent the spread of swine flu and strengthen your immune system by doing the following:
1. Wash your hands properly before having a meal, not just with soap and water.
2. Wear face mask before going outside. If someone is coughing or sneezing near you, cover your nose and mouth with palms or a hanky. Swine flu gets into the body through the mouth and nose.
3. Drink lemon balm tea because it has anti-viral properties.
4. Chew fresh garlic cloves because they have antiviral properties as well.
5. Steam inhalation with chamomile or eucalyptus thrice a day can relieve lung congestion and prevent swine flu symptoms.

Know more about Swine Flu treatment and also discuss Swine Flu Precautions Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Arunraj_V.S.

H1N1 (swine flu) was initially detected in mid April of 2009 in people in the U.S. It was called swine flu because a number of the virus’ genes were similar to the virus which is normally found in pigs. As further studies progressed, it showed that it was, after all, very different from those found in pigs in North America. It is called a “quadruple reassortant virus” because it is linked to bird and human genes and its virus’ genes are similar to the virus which is found in pigs in Europe and Asia. As of October 11, 2009, the World Health Organization was able to record 4,735 deaths from different countries because of swine flu.

1. Some people believe that H1N1 is worse than seasonal flu. It isn’t. In the U.S., only one percent from all those infected with the virus die. This is around 300 people. There are thirty six thousand Americans who die annually because of the seasonal flu. Authorities were only worried because H1N1 has a strain which was never seen before.

2. Healthy people need not worry about getting the swine flu. This is wrong. It is just like seasonal flu because it can affect anyone. It only happens that those people with underlying health conditions are more prone to get the virus compared to healthy people.

3. Some people believe that the swine flue vaccine will only give them the flu. This is not possible because the virus found on the flu shot was killed already. Some people mistakes the common fever experienced as the flu itself. Fever experienced after the vaccine is actually the result of the body’s immune system fighting off a foreign substance. Also, some people think that the common cold they have is already the flu. What many people aren’t aware of is that flu season happens at the same time as cold season.

4. Some people believe that vaccines are harmful. The best way get immunity to the virus is by direct contact. This isn’t the right way to get immunity. This is in fact very dangerous. While you believe that you can get immunity when you are in direct contact with the virus itself, you are actually most likely to get the disease yourself rather than being healed.

5. People should stop eating pork since the virus is linked to that of the pigs’. This is absolutely wrong. The spread of the virus is only between humans. It comes from a sick person to a host’s mucous membranes such as the eyes, mouth and nose. There have been no proof yet that the virus is passed from a pig to a person.

These are some of the myths being tossed around regarding the swine flu virus. One good way to avoid this is through getting oneself educated. There are agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and hospitals which are active in promoting information about the H1N1. In order to be better informed and protected, it is best that these health authorities are contacted.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brent_McNutt

Administration officials said the declaration was a pre-emptive move designed to make decisions easier when they need to be made. Officials said the move was not in response to any single development.

Health and Human Services chief Kathleen Sebelius now has authority to bypass federal rules when opening alternative care sites, such as offsite hospital centers at schools or community centers if hospitals seek permission.

Some hospitals have opened drive-thrus and drive-up tent clinics to screen and treat swine flu patients. The idea is to keep infectious people out of regular emergency rooms and away from other sick patients.

Hospitals could modify patient rules — for example, requiring them to give less information during a hectic time — to quicken access to treatment, with government approval, under the declaration.

It also addresses a financial question for hospitals — reimbursement for treating people at sites not typically approved. For instance, federal rules do not allow hospitals to put up treatment tents more than 200 yards away from the doors; if the tents are 300 yards or more away, typically federal dollars won’t go to pay for treatment.

Administration officials said those rules might not make sense while fighting the swine flu, especially if the best piece of pavement is in the middle of a parking lot and some medical centers already are putting in place parts of their emergency plans.

The national emergency declaration was the second of two steps needed to give Sebelius extraordinary powers during a crisis.

On April 26, the administration declared swine flu a public health emergency, allowing the shipment of roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states in case they eventually needed them. At the time, there were 20 confirmed cases in the U.S. of people recovering easily. There was no vaccine against swine flu, but the CDC had taken the initial step necessary for producing one.

More widespread than ever
Swine flu is more widespread now than it’s ever been, and has resulted in more than 1,000 U.S. deaths so far, officials said Friday.

Flu illnesses are as widespread now as they are at the winter peak of normal flu seasons, Thomas Frieden, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters. “To be basically in the peak of flu season in October is extremely unusual,” he said.

“We expect that influenza will occur in waves and we can’t predict how high, how far or how long the wave will go or when the next will come,” he added.

“Many millions” of Americans have had swine flu so far, according to an estimate he gave at a Friday press conference. The government doesn’t test everyone to confirm swine flu so it doesn’t have an exact count.

Frieden updated some other estimates, too, saying there have been more than 20,000 hospitalizations.

Nearly 100 swine flu deaths in children have been reported, CDC officials also said.

Forty-six states now have widespread flu activity. The only states without widespread flu are Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey and South Carolina. There are at least two different types of flu causing illnesses; tests from about 5,000 patients suggest that nearly all the flu cases are swine flu.

‘Frustrating’ production delays
This year’s seasonal flu vaccine won’t protect against swine flu; a separate swine flu vaccine is needed. Vaccine production takes several months, and the work on seasonal vaccine was already well under way when swine flu was first identified in April. It was too late for the swine flu virus to be included in the seasonal doses.

Because of swine flu vaccine production delays, the government has backed off initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million vaccine doses would be available by mid-October. As of Wednesday, only 11 million doses had been shipped to health departments, doctor’s offices and other providers across the country, CDC officials said.

“It’s frustrating to all of us. We wish there were more vaccine available,” Frieden said.

The flu virus has to be grown in chicken eggs, and the yield hasn’t been as high as was initially hoped, CDC officials explained. “Even if you yell at them, they don’t grow faster,” Frieden said.

He added that 5 million new doses became available in the past week, and vaccine should be more plentiful soon.

Much of the vaccine currently available is a nasal spray from AstraZeneca’s unit MedImmune.

The Obama administration has ordered vaccine from five manufacturers: Sanofi-Aventis SA, CSL Ltd, Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca’s MedImmune.

officials said more Americans have been vaccinated against seasonal flu this fall than ever before by this time of year.

Sixty million people have gotten the winter flu vaccine — probably because they’re paying more attention to flu warnings in general, thanks to swine flu. It’s an unprecedented number of seasonal flu shots for October; most usually aren’t given until later in the fall.

Part of it is due to supply: There are already 85 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine available, a much larger amount than usual for this early in the fall. Most years, roughly 100 million doses are used during the season.

But a big factor probably is that swine flu is drawing attention to public health warnings that seasonal flu is also a deadly illness that can be prevented through vaccinations, said Joe Quimby, a spokesman for the CDC.

“There’s been a heightened awareness in the American public due to H1N1 this year,” said Quimby.

Global figures
Also Friday, the World Health Organization reported more than 414,000 laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 worldwide, with nearly 5,000 deaths.

But the Geneva-based health agency noted that the figures were only the tip of the iceberg.

“As many countries have stopped counting individual cases, particularly of milder illness, the case count is significantly lower than the actual number of cases that have occurred,” WHO said.