Saturday, July 11, 2009

How Swine Flu is Transmitted

Swine Flu or the H1N1 Influenza as the white-coats like to call it, is actually quite a simple disease to attain a good measure of protection against, even if the disease has a fearsome reputation. A little familiarity with the ways in which swine flu passes around should help everyone take the right steps. Swine flu is a term that is quite common around pig farms for a Type A influenza that has always affected populations of pigs. Hog lots, places where large numbers of pigs are raised for slaughter, happen to offer regular contact between pigs and their human caretakers. The H1N1 virus is suspected to have made the leap from an ability to merely infect pigs to the ability to infect humans in just such a place in Mexico earlier this year when a major swine flu epidemic swept the country.
The influenza that the H1N1 virus is capable of, is known to be contagious, though the severity of the contagiousness is not well-established. A WHO release states that this virus is known to have jumped the species barrier more than once in the past. To a virus that has demonstrated such an ability to cross the species hurdle in the past, person-to-person transfer is suspected to be no challenge.
Swine flu is believed to spread among human populations in the same way that the more familiar kinds of flu do: by droplets of bodily fluid put in the air by a coughing or sneezing action by infected people. Contact transmission is another possible way that swine flu is communicated by. Healthy people, when they touch surfaces that have traces of the virus through being coughed on by an infected person, can swab up minute quantities of infected bodily fluid, and unwittingly carry it to their mouth or mucous membranes to be infected.
It is well-known today that the best and simplest defense to deploy in one's life, against swine flu, is to frequently wash one's hands. Simple casual hand-washing is not enough though; the hands should be washed with soap and warm water, in a vigorous rubbing action that lasts about 20 seconds and that pays attention to every inch of skin on the hands, and the nails as well. People sometimes pick soap with bactericidal effects for added protection, oblivious to the fact that swine flu is caused not by bacteria but by a virus. A hand sanitizer is often a good idea in clearing up any viruses on the hands, especially if it is made in an alcohol base. In areas that have reports of the swine flu, anyone who suspects that they might have come into contact with a virus-tainted surface, or been touched by anyone with this infection, needs to quickly wash their hands in this manner.
The responsibility to keep the transmission of swine flu under control belongs not only with healthy people, it belongs with people who have infection already, primarily. People who are infected should try to alter the way they act around other people, to minimize any chances of swine flu transmission. The swine flu- infected should make sure they always cough into a handkerchief, and should promptly wash their hands afterwards to keep from contaminating any surface they touch. People who are sick with swine flu, should keep away from public places, work or school. People often feel bad about dropping out of work for several days to recover from swine flu, for fear of disrupting work at their office. Everyone should realize though that between the choice of showing up for work and bringing down the whole office, and the choice of merely inconveniencing people with one's personal absence, the latter choice always wins out. Healthy people though, could make use of a respirator or face mask if they are going out in public in an area where they know there are swine flu infections.
The Center for Disease Control recommends that face masks are good idea in areas that have large numbers of known cases of swine flu infection. The CDC recommendation however, feels that having healthy people wearing a face mask is not as effective a solution as it is to have the infected wear a mask to prevent the emission disease. The swine flu, as dreaded as it is, transmits itself through simple, well understood ways that appeal to common sense. It should be easy for anyone to take conscientious care to wash their hands when they need to, and use face masks when they deem it appropriate; the control of the spread of a disease is always as successful as private citizens decide to make it.
Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/

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