For reasons not understood yet, the swine flu in Mexico appears to be stronger than what people elsewhere are experiencing though this is fast-moving. The rapid movement has come as a surprise as has the location Mexico and pigs. Most global health care organizations expected this flu outbreak to start in Asia and be related to birds. Fast action is required by all governments and as expected, preventative steps can be taken to lessen the odds of being exposed to the flu. Here's a good overview of the flu by The Independent in the UK so click through for more:
Q: What is swine flu?CNN also has more on the global movement and response to the outbreak:
A: Much the same as human flu – but in pigs. The worry is that pigs are excellent hosts for the virus. And because they are genetically close to humans, they can pass the virus to us more easily than birds can. The great fear over the past decade has been that the avian flu virus, H5N1, would infect pigs which would act as a reservoir for its transmission to humans. Luckily for the world, apart from a few isolated outbreaks, this did not happen.
Mexico seems to be the epicenter of the outbreak, where as many as 103 deaths are thought to have been caused by swine flu, the country's health minister said. An additional 1,614 reported cases have been reported in the country.
So far, however, only 18 cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests in Mexico and reported to the World Health Organization.
The United States stepped up preparations for a possible epidemic of the virus after 20 cases were confirmed, and Canada announced its first cases of the virus Sunday -- six mild cases.
Russia banned all meat imports from Mexico and the southern United States, and said it would screen incoming passengers from those two countries for swine flu by taking their temperatures.
