oneworldtalk

Simple ways to protect yourselves from swine flu pandemic :

1. wash your hands with soap and water frequently

2. cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze

3. avoid contact with others who have symptoms of illness (may be difficult as it's infectious even before the symptoms are evident)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518081,00.html

Here are some facts about the swine flu virus and flu viruses in general:

* The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1.

* It is genetically different from the fully human H1N1 seasonal influenza virus that has been circulating globally for the past few years. The new flu virus contains DNA typical to avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses.

* Your seasonal flu shot — the one you got last fall or winter — will not protect you against swine flu. The reason? This is a new strain of the flu, which means there is no available vaccine to prevent it.

* Flu viruses mutate constantly, which is why the flu vaccine is changed every year, and they can also swap DNA in a process called re-assortment. Most animals can get flu but viruses rarely pass from one species to another.

More details can be found in : http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517 ... infectious

There is some good news about swine flu so we don't get too paranoid.

As far as research shows, you can't get swine flu from handling, cooking or eating pork but you could get it from being in contact with a live pig or person who is symptomatic.

There is medication for swine flu available but the medicine needs to be taken at the start of illness for it to be effective.

* * *

Reasons why the public shouldn't panic about the swine flu -- yet.

1. The Low Numbers… For Now

2. How deadly?
What we're seeing in Mexico case fatality is about 10 percent, and some of those are not confirmed," said Hsu. "Compared to bird flu it's relatively mild."

3. Tamiflu
Although doctors don't have a vaccine for the new strain of swine flu, Blaser said there is hope in our medical arsenal. "At this point the strain is sensitive to flu medication such as tamiflu," said Baser, who is also the past president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

4. Governments, Scientists Have Learned their lessons
"In terms of quarantine and travel rules -- we are much better prepared," said Hsu. "This is a great, great, improvement and this is a lesson learned from previous outbreaks."
Although it scares most people that swine flu cases are popping up all over the globe, to Hsu it shows governments aren't trying to cover up a disease.

5. Watch out Flu, it's springtime
Most infections decline in the summer months. "Looking at the trend, the flu data the flu trend should be declining in May," said Hsu. "The next few weeks should be important."

Please refer to the link for details : http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/s ... 116&page=1

Thanks Robo King for the info on the current flu pandemic.

A follow up on those drugs currently used since current vaccines will not be available for another 6 months. Current vaccines are not suitable for this current strain of virus as pointed out by Robo King in his article.

Tamiflu is a trade name for a chemical called Oseltamivir which is an antiviral drug that is used in the treatment and prophylaxis of both Influenzavirus A and Influenzavirus B infection. Like another drug zanamivir ( which was the first neuraminidase inhibitor commercially developed. It is currently marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Relenza.), oseltamivir is also a neuraminidase inhibitor. It acts as a transition-state analogue inhibitor of influenza neuraminidase, preventing progeny virions from emerging from infected cells.

Oseltamivir was the first orally active neuraminidase inhibitor commercially developed. It is a prodrug, which is hydrolysed hepatically to the active metabolite, the free carboxylate of oseltamivir (GS4071). It was developed by US-based Gilead Sciences and is currently marketed by Hoffmann-La Roche (Roche) under the trade name Tamiflu. Oseltamivir is generally available by prescription only.

Oseltamivir is indicated for the treatment and prevention of infections due to influenza A and B virus in people at least one year of age. The usual adult dosage for treatment of influenza is 75 mg twice daily for 5 days, beginning within 2 days of the appearance of symptoms and with decreased doses for children and patients with renal impairment. Oseltamivir may be given as a preventive measure either during a community outbreak or following close contact with an infected individual. Standard prophylactic dosage is 75 mg once daily for patients aged 13 and older, which has been shown to be safe and effective for up to six weeks. The importance of early treatment is that the NA protein inhibition is more effective within the first 48 hours. If the virus has replicated and infected many cells the effectiveness of this medication will be severely diminished, especially over time.

Zanamivir (trade name Relenza) proved to be a potent and effective inhibitor of influenza neuraminidase. It works by binding to the active site of the neuraminidase protein, rendering the influenza virus unable to escape its host cell and infect others. It is also an inhibitor of influenza virus replication in vitro and in vivo; however this did not necessarily translate into a successful clinical treatment for influenza. In clinical trials it was found that zanamivir was able to reduce the time to symptom resolution by 1.5 days if therapy was started within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms.

Relenza is a safe and effective treatment for influenza, but must be administered soon after the first symptoms appear. Six to 12 hours is ideal. In most countries the drugs can only be obtained with a doctor's prescription, and usually the time taken to get a prescription renders them ineffective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oseltamivir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanamivir

Here are more references on swine flu. As most of the information has been posted in this thread, I shall only highlight some important points and let readers who are interested to check out these links.

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/key_facts.htm





http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm

Note :

You can't get swine flu by eating pork. Just ensure that the meat is properly cooked to 160 C.

There is no evidence to show that it's unsafe to drink tap water or use public swimming pools that have been treated with chemicals.

These are some safe and responsible ways to cough and sneeze to prevent the spread of communicable diseases :


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao7eyqoiIYs[/youtube]


Get rid of bad habits that would worsen the potential pandemic. No kidding!