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To discuss and make strong decisions to fight the widespread Swine Flu, the

World Health Organization set a meeting with the vaccine manufacturers

together with other health experts to stop the Swine Flu Outbreak. 

Different Pharmaceutical companies are ready to begin making a Swine Flu

vaccine — but as the virus may alter, there are questions formed:

How much should they have to produce? How will the government distribute

the vaccines to the infected areas? Who should get it, babies, youngsters,

adults, men, women, pregnant?

Most flu vaccine companies mentioned that they can only make one vaccine at

a time: either seasonal flu vaccine or pandemic vaccine.  Production takes

months and it is impossible to switch halfway through if health officials

make a mistake.  Vaccine makers can make limited amounts of both seasonal

flu vaccine and pandemic vaccine — though not at the same time — but they

cannot make massive quantities of both because that exceeds manufacturing

capacity.

Even if we are in the modern era, still the health officials have a big

problem to solve the spreading of deadly swine flu is, and whether they

will need more seasonal flu vaccine or swine flu vaccine.  Scientists are

not sure the effectiveness of a vaccine, if the swine flu will transmute. 

Only two billion doses of swine flu vaccine could be produced annually

based on the estimation of World Health Organization officials, though the

first batches wouldn’t be available for four to six months.

A “seed stock” to make the vaccine, which should be ready and it will be

distributed to manufacturers worldwide so they can start producing the

vaccine is now on the go as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention works on.  After the vaccine manufacturers get the seed stock,

they won’t know how many doses of vaccine they can make or how long that

would take.

Including vaccine producer, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the World Health

Organization is under negotiation process to save some of their swine flu

vaccine for poorer nations.  A couple of years ago members of the rich

nations like United States, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Canada and

Britain signed deals with the vaccine makers to guarantee them pandemic

vaccines as soon as they’re available.

Cipla (The pharmaceuticals giant in India) instructed by the World Health

Organization to make a generic version of Tamiflu antiviral drug.  Tamiflu

also known as oseltamivir, one of the two antiviral drugs to treat the

Swine Flu.  Then WHO said Cipla’s generic version was more effective than

the original made by Swiss firm Roche Holding AG and would hopefully make

the drug more accessible to the third world countries.  As we all know that

Indian pharmaceuticals produce drugs in very affordable prices.

North America has been the hardest-hit continent for the Swine Flu virus

that kills two Americans from Texas (including a pregnant woman) and one in

Washington.  If the vaccine productions are enough to all suspected Swine

Flu carrier, it won’t happen again that a simple pregnant woman died

fighting the virus. 

Through this article, we will inform the public of an early planning and

prevention against Swine Flu for their safety.  Consult to the Health

Officers about planning and prevention against the virus.  According to an

unidentified source that one out of three Americans can only take the

Tamiflu.

A pandemic second quarter of 2009 outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) virus is a

new strain of influenza virus identified commonly referred to as Swine Flu

confirmed cases topped almost 6,000 individuals, as Belgium became the

latest European nation to be hit by the influenza A(H1N1) virus.  World

Health Organization (WHO) officials said the number of cases of influenza

A(H1N1) stood at around 6,000 and nearly 7,000 in more than 30 countries,

with more than 60 people having died from the disease. 

Cases were first discovered in the U.S. and officials soon suspected a link

between those incidents and an earlier outbreak of late-season flu cases in

Mexico.  In less than a week hundreds of suspected cases, some of them

serious, were discovered in Mexico.  Soon thereafter, the WHO along with

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expressed concern that

the A(H1N1) could become a worldwide flu pandemic, and WHO then raised its

pandemic disease alert level to “Phase 5″ out of the six maximum, as a

“signal that a pandemic is at about to happen level”.

More than three thousand cases of infections including three deaths was the

recorded highest number of A(H1N1) by the United States compared to Mexico

where only more than two thousand reported cases of infection including 60

deaths were confirmed.  The WHO said 389 people were also confirmed with

the virus – and one person had died – in Canada who happens to be with the

19-year-old Chinese career that brings in to China a spread out.  Two other

cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong.  Authorities there said they had

quarantined six people who traveled with the second case, a 24-year-old

man, by plane from San Francisco.  A further 45 people who sat near him on

his journey had already left Hong Kong, they said. 

China, in the meantime, stepped up the search for people who came into

contact with the mainland’s two confirmed Swine Flu patients.  A

30-year-old man was confirmed to have the virus in the southwestern city of

Chengdu.  He had been in the United States before his homecoming to China. 

Plane (Air Canada flight to Beijing) and train (for Shandong Province with

20 people on board) travelers with a 5 meter contact with a 19-year-old

student (his surname is Lu: second confirmed victim) are being haunted by

Chinese Authorities in Beijing and Eastern Shandong province.

He’s not feeling well, a couple of days after his arrival in Beijing but

still continue to travel by train with a fever, sore throat and a headache.

 They believed that virus highlighted in China and Hong Kong could be a mix

of bird and human flu which came together in pigs.

Belgium confirmed its first case of Swine Flu in a 28-year-old man who also

had been in the United States.  Jose Angel Cordova (Health Minister of

Mexico) moved to reassure tourists, saying that the country’s beaches and

resorts – an important source of foreign income — were safe for visitors. 

“There’s no risk to tourists,” he said, noting that most of the flu cases

detected in holiday hotspots like Cancun and Acapulco dated back nearly two

weeks.

The Swine Flu outbreak was expected to cost Mexico’s economy of more than 2

billion dollars – or about 0.3 percent of gross domestic product.

Have you been watching the news and/or read your daily broadsheets at all

recently?  If so, you’ve probably heard the term “Swine Flu” bouncing

around a lot.  While you are in the pigs fair or your hog race backyard and

you were ever unlucky enough to be sneezed on by a sick pig, would you

catch its flu? Not necessarily — it takes more than simply breathing in a

pig’s germs (just like kissing his messy and slimy nose) for you to get

sick. 

While most people come down with the normal human flu at some point, it’s

not really a danger to anyone but the very young (from 0 month to 7 years

old) and the very old (from 60 to 90 years old).  Fortunately, the human

immune system is there to recognize and neutralize the effects of the

virus.  Each year, the virus mutates just slightly and most of the

population is once again susceptible to the disease.  This is why a new

vaccine must be created regularly to reflect the most recent influenza

mutants out in the environment. 

When the human flu virus mutates its external proteins, the body’s defenses

still recognize them and eventually mount a response (the period of

sickness occurs while the body is developing that response).  If this

failed to happen, you would eventually succumb to the virus and you will

die.

If a people’s immune system might not immediately stop a new human

influenza infection, it does recognize that new mutant and begin building a

response.  Avian and swine peplomers, on the other hand, are not easily

recognized by the human system because our race did not include pressure

from those particular viruses.  The animal influenza has been able to

mutate enough to cross the species bridge and infect humans as well as

humans we have come into a close contact with the animals (e.g. as a hog

racer, we care for them and eventually sold out to the market for more

extra income) that carry these viruses.

In the past this would not have been a worldwide epidemic.  An infected

village might just die out in isolation (the nearest hospital was more than

10 miles away from the village).  Now it’s different: if a traveler can

become infected from a hog race backyard in one region and fly thousands of

miles to another, long before they experience symptoms of possible flu.

So what’s the fall away message from all of this? Can we do anything?  Well

as individuals it’s wise to go through the same sanitary practices as we

might during flu season.  We must be aware if our pigs catch flu during the

season so that we put them instantly in a quarantine area that no other

individual will take care of your pigs without protective suits.  And

traveling to places which have reported Swine Flu cases probably isn’t a

great idea. 

There are people as you observe in different agencies and they have spent

their whole lives preparing for just these kinds of epidemics and they are

currently working very hard to provide the public with the best information

and advice about the Swine Flu.

They are only there waiting for your attention and willingness to diagnose

if you suspected yourself a possible Swine Flu virus.  They are there to

help you live longer.

In the history of the United States, this is not the first time that the country is experiencing a swine flu outbreak. The first recorded incident of H1N1 infection in the US was recorded on January 27, 1976, when there was a small outbreak of mild respiratory illnesses took place at Fort Dix Army Base in New Jersey.

According to throat cultures obtained from sick soldiers, each of the patients were infected by “swine-like flu virus” which have been unknown to humans since 1930. It was believed that the same virus was also responsible for the worst flu pandemic in the United States in 1918-1919 which led to the death of half a million Americans.

To many people, the discovery of the 1976 was more of a debacle than a victory because after only 10 weeks of implementation, vaccination efforts came to a premature close as the program led to complications which were associated to the shots.

After the death of Private David Lewis after participating in a forced five-mile march the night before his demise, Dr. David Sencer and his colleagues attributed the death to strains of swine-like flu virus. Upon the advice of specialists across the United States, Dr. Sencer called on then President Gerald Ford to launch a nationwide mass inoculation.

President Ford and the US Congress heeded the call and in October implemented the $137-million National Inoculation Program. However, after only several days of implementation, there were reports that the vaccine being used for the program made the patients prone to Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder which results to temporary paralysis but could be risky.

Prior to its premature end in December 1976, the vaccine was administered to over 40 million Americans comprising almost 25% of the population.  From the over 500 people who experienced Guillain-Barre Syndrome after vaccine administration, 25 people died. As a result, the Federal Government paid millions worth of damages to the families of the victims.
 
Meanwhile, the epidemic which some experts predicted would affect 50 to 60 million Americans during that time never happened. According to the Center for Disease Control, there were only 200 confirmed cases and one death.

It is understandable why the current H1N1 outbreak has been a source of anxiety for the public who recalls the 1976 event. It serves as a lesson for the government and health officials who needs to make a decision on the current swine flu in the days and weeks to come.

Dr. David Sencer, who is now retired and resides in Atlanta, believes that the 1976 debacle brought good things as well as bad. The belief that the 1918-19 flu epidemic resulted from swine-like virus partly contributed to the 1976 setback.
 
Although current studies have shown that the cause of the epidemic was bird flu, it did not ease the current anxiety prevailing in the public. The 1918-19 epidemic led to the death of 500,000 people in the United States and more than 50 million worldwide.

In Mexico, where the 2009 swine flu outbreak, originated, 22 people have died from the most recent outbreak. Government officials have been under fire for the way they have handled the situation. However, with such a mystery surrounding the threat, Dr. Peter Katona, who is an authority on infectious disease from UCLA, believes that people have failed to understand the challenges posed by such problem.

According to the World Health Organization, efforts for developing a swine

flu vaccine has been ongoing since the first human case of the virus has

been confirmed. Estimates place the initial doses of the vaccine will be

administered in 5 to 6 months time.

While people diagnosed with H1N1 virus seems to be headed for recovery,

there have been deaths recorded. Aside from that, receiving vaccines for

this virus is important particularly the elderly and individuals with a

weak immune system, since they are prone to complications such as

pneumonia.

Likewise, the vaccine will serve as protection in case the condition

persists particularly during the winter months which is the time when

influenza is at its peak.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), although they are still

incomplete, current evidence shows that seasonal influenza vaccines will

provide minimal or no protection against swine flu. Every year, a new batch

of flu vaccine is developed and matched with strains that the WHO

determines will most probably circulate in the winter months, which happens

to be the peak season for influenza outbreaks.

Influenza virus comes in various strains which contains different proteins

on their surfaces. The body’s immune system can only fight and destroy a

virus if they are able to recognize these proteins. It is worth noting that

antibodies that recognize one strain may not detect other strains.
Existing vaccines may only offer some protection against swine influenza if

the proteins on its surface are identical to strains used to develop

previous vaccines. According to the NIBSC, they are trying to determine if

the swine flu virus, which is an H1N1 strain of type A influenza, as well

as previous H1N1 vaccines match current vaccines.

The preparation of a vaccine commences after a virus develops as they

provide the starting point for the production of the vaccine. As such,

there is always a time delay while a vaccine is being developed.

Preparation of a vaccine involves several steps so it would take several

months before a vaccine becomes available.

According to WHO estimates, the virus needed for producing the vaccine will

be accessible to vaccine manufacturers by the middle of May while the

initial dose for a new vaccine would be ready within 5 to 6 months after

that. Waiting time would be much longer if the growth of the vaccine

proceeds rapidly.

Vaccination plays a crucial role in the prevention and reduction of the

effects of serious conditions. Unfortunately, they are not entirely

effective and could lose its effectiveness if the virus mutates.
Existing flu vaccines are valid for about one year and are 70% – 80%

effective against transmission with strains of influenza virus that are

identical to strains used in the production of vaccines.

The WHO believes that it is too early to tell how the A(H1N1) virus would

change. It is closely monitoring any changes in the virus and this would

help countries quickly react to any important changes that the virus may

show.

Vaccines help the body combat certain diseases in case an individual

becomes afflicted with the illness in the future. On the other hand, an

antiviral drug is used on people who is already infected with a virus.

Although they work in various ways, they generally work to prevent the

virus from spreading to different cells in the body.

Swine flu vaccines are administered prior to exposure to a virus so they

would be protected from that agent. Antivirals only work if administered

within a certain period of time before or after they are exposed to the

virus.

Swine Flu-Is a respiratory track infection from the hogs.  This kind of

virus can kill the human race.  This infection is a worldwide virus

outbreak.  A flu deadly disease occurs when a new influenza virus emerges

for which people have little or no immunity and for which there is no

vaccine.  Those whom their hospitals are more than 10 miles from their

community can easily infected with the Swine Flu.

The disease spreads easily person-to-person, and can be cause with serious

illness, and can spread out across the country and even worldwide in a very

short span of time.  An influenza pandemic may be caused by either swine

(pig) or avian (bird) flu viruses.

Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans.  But, randomly, the human

race got infected with Swine flu.  Most frequently, these cases occur in

persons with direct exposure to pigs (example: owner and or workers in the

swine backyard or industry or even the children near pigs at a fair).

Human-to-human transmission of Swine flu can also occur.  This is thought

to happen in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly

through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus to

an uninfected individual will be infected also.  People may also become

infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then they touch

their mouth or nose.

Some think that swine flu can also get from foods we eat.  Take note that

influenza viruses are not transmitted by food.  You cannot get the

influenza virus by means of eating pork or pork products.  Eating properly

handled and cooked pork is safe.  Proper cooking of pork or pork products

with an internal temperature of 160°F will kill the swine flu virus as it

does with other bacteria and viruses.

Fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, runny nose, sore throat, nausea,

vomiting, diarrhea and coughing are some of the following symptoms of swine

flu in people.

In diagnosing influenza infection, a respiratory specimen would generally

need to be collected within the first 3 to 4 days of illness (when an

infected person is most likely to be contagious).  However, some persons,

especially children, may be infectious for 10 days or longer.

If you get sick, there are two antiviral drugs (Tamiflu and Relenza)

available with prescription can make your illness milder and make you feel

better faster.  They may also prevent serious influenza complications.  In

treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started as soon after getting sick

as possible, and might not work if started more than 2 days after illness

starts.

There are a number of things that you can do to prepare yourself and those

around you for a flu pandemic.  It is important to think about the

challenges that you might face, particularly if an epidemic is rigorous.

The effects of a pandemic can be lessened if preparation is made ahead of

time.  Planning and preparation information and checklists are being

prepared for various sectors of society, including information for

individuals and families.

Different agencies are providing funding, advice, and other support from

different rich nations to every country to assist with Swine Flu epidemic

planning and preparation.  Reading articles like this can help you plan

against the spreading of the Swine Flu.

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