With the world facing fears over the swine flu and the UN’s World Health Organization raising the alert over it to level five, the question that is being asked by many, especially in the Eastern hemisphere, is what exactly is swine flu? We have heard of and battled Spanish flu, SARS, mad cow disease and avian flu in recent times. But this is something new to hit the modern era – swine flu.
What exactly is swine influenza?
As per the Wikipedia, it is a type of influenza that is caused by a strain of the influenza virus endemic in pigs. It is common in pigs but was considered rare in humans, until now. Those who work closely with swines are at risk of catching the flu if the swine is carrying the strain that can infect human beings. But this was not considered to be passed on easily from human to human. To be passed on it would have to mutate into another form. The recent outbreak of swine flu, that was first reported in Mexico, is due to a new strain of “influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that is a fusion of human, pig and avian influenza"!
Now, this would mean that the virus has started to mutate into a form that can be passed on from human to human. This new form has been hitherto unknown and according to the WHO, it may not be found only in pigs.
While the WHO and the affected countries’ administration struggle to control this disease from turning into a full-blown global epidemic or pandemic, alerts have been issued to the people to take precautions.
The good news is that medical experts insist that this flu is completely treatable if the patient comes in to the hospital straight away. Therefore, authorities are urging people to report any initial signs of contracting the flu. These signs are body aches, chills, sore throat, headaches, fever and cough – the basic symptoms of the normal flu.
Though there is panic among people in the Mexico, US, Canada, New Zealand and Israel where cases of the swine flu have been reported, authorities are urging people to remain calm because it is the only way this outbreak can be controlled.  
I remember when SARS broke out in 2003 and spread rapidly within weeks from the Guangdong province of China to among people in some 37 countries around the world, the panic that was felt among people all over was quite palpable. To some it felt like the end of population. Then came avian flu and the reaction was more muted. There was hope and faith in the medical authorities of the world that they would come up with a control measure.
And now, again there is hope!