Swine flu is also termed as 2009 H1N1 type A influenza and is a human disease. However, against the common perception people get Swine flu from infection from other people instead of pigs. The disease is named as swine flu because virus causing influenza comes from pigs to humans. Virus of Swine Flu gets genes from swine, bird and human flu viruses. Although there is still debate on nomenclature of this virus among scientific community yet most people know it as the H1N1 swine flu virus.

Swine flu virus among pigs and humans is totally different. It does not effects human and its rare examples of infection in past have occurred in people who uses to live in direct contact of pigs. However, the current outbreak of swine flu is different and is caused by new swine flu virus that has changed its pattern for spreading from a person to another person. To differentiate it CDC has named it as “2009 H1N1 virus”, other names for it, are “novel H1N1″ or nH1N1, “quadruple assortant H1N1,” and “2009 pandemic H1N1.”

In many people there has been seen partial immunity to seasonal H1N1 viruses as they may be infected with or vaccinated against this flu bug. The virus spread out genetically, therefore, for its prevention flu vaccine is to be tweaked from time to time. However, the H1N1 swine flu is not the general “drift variant” of H1N1. It infects humans from a different line of evolution. Therefore a very few people have any natural immunity against these H1N1 swine flu

For example people who suffered with H1N1 flu before 1957 tend to have a little bit of protection immunity against the new virus. Because seasonal H1N1 flu strains, which circulated before 1957were genetically closer to the 2009 H1N1 swine flu, though this protection is not complete in itself.

Swine Flu Symptoms

Symptoms of H1N1 swine flu are common like regular flu symptoms and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. In certain people who may be suffering from swine flu diarrhea and vomiting occur. Every person suffering from Swine flu would have above said one or two features. However these symptoms can also occur because of any other reason too. Determination of the swine flu depends upon the manufacturer’s test, the sample collection method, and how much viral sample a person is displaying out at the time of testing. Like seasonal flu, pandemic swine flu also causes neurological signs in children. These cases can be very severe and often fatal. Symptoms involve seizures or changes in mental status, confusion or sudden cognitive or behavioral changes. Yet any reason has not been ascertained for this behavior. And it is lab tests only that can definitively tell whether you are suffering from swine flu or not.

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