H1N1 Virus / Swine Flu – Discuss

Swine flu is a respiratory disease that is caused by influenza viruses that infect the respiratory area of pigs and causes heavy coughing, headache and decrease in our appetite. But don't worry you cannot catch Swine Flu from any pig products. In 2009, Swine Flu spreaded very fast around the world and since then people are falling sick and during that time around 203,000 people died. The 2009 Swine Flu outbreak was due to infection with H1N1 virus, which was first found in Mexico. Many patients in Mexico were young adults and so the investigators thought that people who have strong immune response can catch the flu easily which causes tissue damages in the body. A vaccine named Monovalent Vaccine Live made availability in the first week of October and was a live vaccine which was sprayed in the nostril to only healthy people from ages 2-49 to protect from Swine Flu. Swine Flu is a communicable disease so for our safety you might have seen posters on roads, news on television, read in magazines or newspapers that to protect from Swine Flu we should wear a face mask and not reuse the next day because that causes more chances later to catch Swine Flu, cover your mouth with your hand when you cough or sneeze and then immediately wash your hands and stay away from crowded places. In case if it is necessary to enter a crowded place, try to stay there as short as possible. Vaccination is the best prevention of flu. We all should take swine flu vaccination every year, it's not that you will not get swine flu but there are very less chances of getting swine flu. If you feel symptoms like severe vomiting, dizziness, body aches or shortness of breath, then immediately consult a doctor and in the case of a child, if the child has bluish or gray skin color, not responding properly to food and fluids, not urinating properly , feeling very weak consult a doctor immediately. Swine Flu can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia and respiratory failure. If you have diabetes or asthma it can make that worse. People who have Swine Flu can be communicable for one day before they have any symptoms and 7 days after they get sick. For kids it can be communicable for around 10 days. There are two anti viral agents known as Oseltamivir and Zanamivir, which brings down several symptoms of swine flu down and makes the patient less communicable and so it prevents them from infecting others if it is taken within 48 hours after you are sick. These agents also protect us from other strains of influenza. Swine Flu spreads through droplets expelled in the air when an infected person sneezes or coughs. In social media a message has become very popular that "If camphor and cardamom is mixed and powdered, and then kept in a handkerchief and smelt once in 2-3 hours it will kill the swine flu bacteria."But NO! It's not true, the error in the message is that Swine Flu is caused by bacteria, but actually it is caused by H1N1 Influenza-A virus. The balms and the aromatic oils that are used for cold and cough are sold in the markets very quickly because people are thinking that the balms would give full protection to them from swine flu. A doctorate in pharmacy, who is currently heading an Ayurvedic medicine said that none of these remedies are the best ways to stay protected and do not strengthen the immune system. According to the survey conducted this year, till 20 February 2015, 703 people died due to Swine Flu out of 11,071 cases. The cases are still being detected in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Telangana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The Cabinet Secretary had a meeting with our Prime Minister, Mr.Modi where Mr.Modi said that there should be no shortage of medicines and patients should get the necessary treatment. In Delhi, the government had granted license to 40 new drug stores to sell the anti viral tablets for the treatment after 6 people died and 1,789 Swine Flu cases were reported. The city government had also ordered all private medical labs not to charge more than Rs.4, 500 to take tests for the viral disease.

So, the best way for us to try to prevent H1N1 infection is an arrangement of methods that are designed at fulfilling the very basic principle that H1N1 doesn't reach our mucus membrane cells which are present at several parts of skin, and so this infection will be prevented.

Prachi Gandhi