for Flu (Influneza) Information
swine flu symptons
Navigation
Resources
You And The Swine Flu: Knowledge That May Save You
By Sutiyo Na
With this new strain of influenza running around, properly called Type A H1N1 swine influenza, but more popularly known as the swine flu, I think it would be nice to give people the 411 on the latest Read more...
flu Partners:
Resources
Liver Cancer, How Many Types Are There
By Mercy Maranga
Liver cancer is the type of cancer that originates from the liver and it is characterized by malignant hepatic tumors which grow on or in the liver. Symptoms of liver cancer include abdominal pain, Read more...
Resources
Swine Flu: Overview, Treatment, And Prevention
By Sutiyo Na
Swine flu is an illness that is affecting hundreds of individuals in the United States as well as worldwide. According to the CDC, the illness may take some more time. Since one is likely to become Read more...
Resources
Pink Eye Treatment
By justin kenedy
There are quite a number of home remedies floating around for the treatment of Pink Eye. But they pretty much come down to the same thing. Some suggest the use of a compress, which is simply a moist Read more...
swine influenza: an acute and highly contagious respiratory disease of swine caused by the orthomyxovirus thought to be the same virus that caused ...
Welcome to Flu (Influneza) Information - your comprehensive flu resource.
Below, you'll find extensive information on leading swine flu symptons articles and products to help you on your way to success.
What Makes Swine Flu So Dangerous?
By Reas Johnson
What makes swine so dangerous is that like all influenza viruses it undergoes the process of antigenic drift. This is when spot mutations occur on the genetic material that causes slight changes in the physical make-up of the virus.
These slight changes are what frustrate scientist’s attempts to create the ultimate vaccination for influenza. Due to constant changes to the protein particles of the outer coats of viruses (which the immune system is targeted for during vaccination) new vaccines are always needed to combat ever new versions of the viruses.
Swine is an example of such a change. But what are these changes and what parts of the virus causes the damage that destroys normal healthy cells?
The H1N1 designation of the swine virus gives us a clue to the inner workings of the virus. It represents the major functional proteins on its surface.
The ‘H’ stands for hemagglutinin which is a protein that binds the swine virus to the cell and injects its content into it.
The ‘N’ stands for neuraminidase which possesses a number of specialized enzymes that causes the infected cells to release the newly formed viruses.
All these aspects of swine make it potentially very dangerous. Even though the form that is currently spreading is relatively mild it could still change into a virulent strain in the next few months before winter arrives. The fact that it’s also a new disease means that there is no current vaccine for swine flu. So if it becomes more deadly,
we will have no protection against it except for those provided by generic anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza.
Tamiflu works by blocking the action of neuroamindase, obstructing the virus’s ability to spread from one cell to the other. But it is only effective as a treatment if it is used in the first few days during the onset of swine flu. The problem with anti-viral drugs is that it is often very difficult to diagnose the onset of swine flu. By the time the disease is identified it’s often too late to use the drugs. This is one of the reasons the effectiveness of anti-virals drugs has been called into question.
So we are currently exposed to the full potential of swine flu. We know the devastation that influenza viruses can cause, the Spanish pandemic infected more than one third of the world’s population and killed more than 50 million people.
We have no choice but to be vigilant to the spread of swine flu. Millions will undoubtedly catch the disease and many more will die from it. All we can do is hope that it doesn’t become more virulent and cause too much death. In its current mild form we can contain it and can control the worse of its symptoms through the use of anti-viral drugs. But if it changes we could be in trouble. Even the vaccines that are currently been developed might not be as effective if the change is marked. What we have to remember is that it is dangerous because it is so changeable and in light of this we have no choice but to treat it with extreme caution.
Reas Johnson is a microbiology student, who loves writing about popular health related issues. Social medical issues are often best looked at when you are properly informed.
To learn more about swine flu go to:
www.swine-flu-facts.org/
We strive to provide only quality articles, so if there is a specific topic related to flu that you would like us to cover, please contact us at any time.
And again, thank you to those contributing daily to our swine flu symptons website