swine virus

I wonder what's next after the pig flu? There is the SARS, avian bird flu and now the swine flu. At times I wonder if the pig flu would really turn out as serious as the media and press makes it out to be? After all, SARS claimed just well over 300 hundred life worldwide but this figure pales in comparison when compare with malaria and other water borne diseases such as typhoid which kills over hundreds daily worldwide. To date the pig flu virus claimed just well over a hundred, many of which are yet to be confirmed due to pig flu virus infection.

Temperature scanners has been placed in various airports around the world as first line of defense against possible human transmission via international travels. One of the major concern with pig flu is that the symptoms are similar to normal flu. Its practically almost impossible for a doctor to confirm if a person is infected with pig flu or not by symptoms such as cough, fever, nausea, omitting, headache, fatigue and dizziness.

So the big question is why the global major concern with pig flu? One interesting thing to note is that most of the death pertaining to the pig flu comes from Mexico. Medical experts aren't even absolutely sure if the pig flu is the direct contributor to the related deaths in Mexico. So in the meantime I suppose the big pharmacy companies will be aligning resources to develop and stock pile new vaccine against the pig flu and that means big business amidst the global economic crisis.

There are those who suggest that pandemic flu outbreak is much more serious compare to other diseases such as the mosquito borne malaria disease due to the fact that flu is air borne and highly contagious. This argument is far fetch due to the fact that Malaria is spread through the Aides Mosquito and you can easily contract malaria via mosquito bites.

We can enforce rules such as mandatory quarantine, health check and other regulations and means to reduce, isolate or avoid the spread of pandemic flu but we can't do that when the median of transmission is insect such as mosquitoes. The only way to halt or reduce the spread of malaria is by seeking out and destroying source of breeding places and even then, trying to execute such plan proves to be difficult in slump and squat areas of towns with large population.

The pig flu virus has been identified as far back as 1930s and it is caused by Type A influenza virus. It is not uncommon for virus such as the pig flu to mutate into a new viral strain that may cross the species barrier and result in human to human transmission.

On a footnote, it is interesting to note that a higher number of flu infection related deaths are not caused directly by the virus infection themselves, rather it is caused by other diseases due to the weakening of the body immune system against bacterias and viruses.


In summary, there is no need to be unduly worry about the swine virus. Yes, such flu infection is very contagious however there are other equally deadly diseases which are contagious and deserved equal global health corporations to tackle and address.