What is Swine Flu?

Swine flu is much like human influenza and generally affects pigs, causing problems in their respiratory systems. Although the disease is very infectious, it very rarely results in fatalities, and much like the human flu season, it is predominant during the winter and late fall. It is unusual for humans to be attacked by the swine flu virus. However, in 2009, the traditional swine virus evolved itself in conjunction with human and avian influenza to develop into H1N1, which has the ability to cause human contamination.

H1N1 swine flu has symptoms which exhibit similarities with typical human influenza. Fever, cough, fatigue, sore throat, diarrhea etc. are indications common to both human and H1N1 swine flu. If these symptoms are observed, together with breathing difficulties and other respiratory problems, immediate medical attention should be sought to determine whether a person has been affected. In such cases, the person should reduce interactions with other people to a minimum and stay quarantined unless the test results prove to be negative.

Since prevention is better than cure, it is advisable to have a dose of swine flu vaccines, which are safer and prevent H1N1 infection effectively. Other treatments include medicines like Tamilflu and Releza, which can alleviate the conditions by reducing the duration and severity of the symptoms.