Swine Flu Fact

The Swine Influenza virus began circulating in Mexico, which is also where the most deaths have occurred. To this point Mexican officials have said that 149 deaths have resulted from Swine flu causes. Over 1,300 people have been admitted to hospitals in Mexico for fear of the Swine Flu. Many cases have been reported in the exceptionally large densely populated Mexico City. There the Mexican military has passed out four million face filter masks that have been proven to slow and prevent the transfer of the disease; Mexico City has a population of twenty million residents.

Mexico City has been dealing the infection for weeks longer than any other country, but its emergency response programs are known to be less effective than those of first world nations, also overcrowding is known to help the spread of the virus. Recently Mexico City has closed its schools to prevent further infection, and the streets of the city have been deserted on many nights. These are signs of what awaits other countries in which the Swine Flu spreads. Great panic has resulted from the fact that many of the deaths in Mexico have been young adults who would usually shrug off the virus quickly; it is likely that these people had underlying conditions that quickened their demise.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way. The Swine Influenza virus spreads mainly through infected body fluids being inhaled by a non-infected person. Contact with the mucus membranes where the barrier of the skin is not as thick will also increase chances of being infected.

The Swine Flu is normally contained to animals, and has regular outbreaks in pigs, original cases started with people in close contact with pigs and pig materials. Only after the Swine Flu virus has infected one or more human beings in contact with pigs does it begin to mutate and become the Swine Influenza Virus A (H1N1), which is directly transmittable between human hosts in the ways previously mentioned.