When we thought things could not get much worst on the heels of the global recession, we were ambushed with news of a deadly virus facing us. Yes this deadly virus is not confined to one or two countries but could affect all countries, all cities, all homes, all neighbors, and all homes! To make matters bad our leaders are still grappling for (if I may say) some hopeful solutions to tackle this threatening monster.
This monster we speak of is officially being referred to as the H1N1 virus. It began carrying the name swine flu but was aggressively renamed as the H1N1 virus because the swine/pig meat community was concerned that the name in its original form could damage their pig/swine meat sales. Congratulation to the pig meat community for a job well accomplished on the rebranding but God help us now as this new name has not brought us any closer to finding a wholesale solution to this virus.
The H1N1/swine flu virus is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A flu virus. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Similar to human, pigs do get flu. It is widely believed that though swine flu generally do not infect human, pig to human transmission has occurred in the past and notably among persons who had direct exposure to pigs carrying the virus at the time. It is believed that the H1N1/swine flu virus started with a pig to human transmission and has now progressed to human to human transmission. Health experts reported that they have not seen this virus in this form before and are still trying to understand it. What we can safely pin point is the common symptoms that an infected person shed. These are coughing, sore throat, weakness, lack of appetite, fever, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea and nausea.
The H1N1/swine flu virus is highly contagious which is what makes it very dangerous. The fact is we all now live in one house called globalization. We may deny this idea, we may not like it but we can’t ignore this fact. Every day our business and social activities are so intertwined with our neighboring countries whose activities are also tied with their neighboring countries and so and so on. That is why the H1N1/swine flu virus that stared in Mexico has now reached USA, Canada and and at least one country in the Caribbean and it is still stretching its borders. By contagious we mean the virus can be caught through three of our five senses i.e. our nostril, mouth and our eyes. To demonstrate this fact: all it takes is someone with the virus to cough on their hands then touch a restaurant entrance or exit door. Now you may be saying I do not go to restaurant, ok, you may not but how many person hands did you shake in a given week that might have open an infected restaurant door? Get the picture. We are constantly touching, seeing, inhaling and hearing our surroundings; this is just how our creator designed us to interact with our environment. So you can see the power of any virus that is transmitted through these senses.
The obvious question you might be asking is how do we protect ourselves and our love ones from this deadly virus. The Centre for Disease and Control recommends the use of Zanamivir or Oseltamivir for the treatment and or prevention of infection with swine flu viruses. Relenza is the commercial name and only type of Zanamivir and it is currently marketed by GlaxoSmithKline. Also Tami flu which has received substantial media attention since the recent swine flu outbreak is an Oselamivir type medication and is currently marketed by Hoffmann-La Roche (Roche). But wait you do not want to run to your pharmacy and stock pile the Tami flu or the Relenza. For the sake of your love ones and family you must find out the SEVERE side effects which have resulted in death associated with this Tami flu and Relenza. In fact there are other natural alternatives to combat this virus.
Tags: cough, coughing, flu outbreak, flu virus, flu viruses, health, level, levels, levels of, oseltamivir, relenza, restaurant, sore throat, swine, swine flu, treatment
