Symptoms of Swine Flu

If you were one of the lucky people to both catch and survive the Swine Flu during the 2009-2010 pandemic, the according to a new study, your immune system may have become supercharged. It seems that the Swine Flu virus was totally unknown to many that caught it and the body did not know how to cure it.

Somewhere in the vicinity of 60 million people came down with the Swine Flu last year, and even though death by flu was much lighter than in prior years, there were still around 18,000 deaths from the disease. What is surprising is what comes to the survivors is a type of super immunity. They seem to have antibodies that are capable to kill any type of flu virus and not just the swine flu.

Research has shown that survivors of the H1N1 virus have an amazing immune response. The researchers say that five of the antibodies they have identified are capable of fighting off all known seasonal flu’s, the Spanish flu virus that killed around 50 million people in the 1918 pandemic and even the bird flu variant H5N1.

The researchers feel that it is how unique the Swine Flu was that triggered that kind of reaction from the immune system. Since the body did not know what the exact invasion was, it began to create antibodies for everything taking hints from every flu virus it had encountered to date. By the time a person had completely recovered they seemed to be immune to every type of flu around. Researchers are unsure if the H1N1 vaccine will give the same type of immunity that actually having the swine flu will give. More research is needed.

Now onto the really interesting part, An Oxford University Virus expert Dr. Sarah Gilbert is feeling that this immunity from swine flu survivors in the relatively near future could lead to a super vaccine. This vaccine could give you immunity to every type of flu, a universal influenza vaccine.

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A version of last years H1N1 flu strain is circulating in a South Carolina prison. As a precaution the prison has shut the doors to all visitors for the moment. The outbreak has so far hit about 140 of the inmates. The facility currently holds just under 750 inmates.

The outbreak began on January 17^th and moved rather swiftly through the prison population.

For 2011 most of the US seems to have bypassed the Swine flu for the year. The United Kingdom on the other hand, has seen a lot of H1N1 this year including 112 deaths to date. Hospitals are also rapidly filling up with flu vaccine in short supply. A few of the other countries in northern Europe have been hard hit with swine flu as well. So far few cases have been seen in the US but that could change. Air travel makes it easy for a virus to move from country to country.

You can read more about this subject at CIDRAP.

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For those in the medical field this is high season. The phone is ringing constantly with people thinking they or their children have they flu. For the most part, they do not.  Can you tell if you have a cold or the flu?

If you have the common cold, I think it is called that because everyone commonly gets the cold, you can feel it coming for around a week before you actually come down with your cold. It will almost always start with a scratchy feeling in your throat. This is often followed by sneezing, and sniffling, then congestion in your head and throat and sometimes moving into your chest. If you have any fever it is most often mild for adults but can be pretty high in children. Coughing is often much like a dry hacking and is mostly due to the congestion. During the early part of your scratchy throat phase, you may be able to deter your cold by taking extra vitamins and getting some extra sleep.

The influenza virus in all of its many forms on the other hand, often starts near instantly. It will often begin with a fever of over 101 and this will often last between 3 to 7 days. Other symptoms that will accompany the flu are a headache, and the feeling that your body is aching everywhere. No matter what position you turn and twist into you just can’t find any comfort. You will normally feel exceptionally tired and should get as much rest as possible during the flu. Coughing is generally dry and hacking and will stick around well after your other flu symptoms have left.

The flu will pretty much affect your entire body, you will feel it everywhere. The cold on the other hand will generally just effect your upper body, meaning your eyes, ears, nose, throat and sometimes chest. While you will at times have some of the symptoms of colds with your flu such as a stuffy nose, sneezing, and a sore throat it is not so common. The reason the flu is so serious a problem for those who already have health troubles is because it can lead to so many major issues, the largest being pneumonia.

Sometimes you might feel your stomach is upset and think that you are catching the flu as well, it is most likely not though that is probably only gastroenteritis. Or you could have eaten something that is super disagreeable to your digestive system.

For the most part a virus such as the cold or the flu will be completely out of your system in 3 to 7 days. For most people there is no need to see a doctor for such things. However, if you have any type of a chronic involving your lungs or your breathing is compromised in any manner, then you should seek immediate medical attention when you get a cold or flu. If you illness lasts for more than 10 days you should also look into seeing a doctor as it could be a sign of something more serious.

In the long run it is best to avoid the flu and colds by staying healthy for the long run.  So eat well, get plenty of exercise and be sure to take your vitamins.

This little piggy had swine flu, this little piggy had none.

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I felt it was only appropriate to put something up in response to all the coverage of the recent Swine Flu outbreak. Pigs are getting a bad rap on this one. The government is supposedly renaming the virus to H1-N1, but it doesn’t seem to be catching on. SONG LYRICS Miss Piggy, Arnold Ziffle, neither has a little sniffle Porky Pig and Pooh’s Piglet No fever yet Putnam, Gordy, Toot and Puddle Not contagious safe to snuggle Ask Petunia Babe, Noelle All of them feel well Wilbur, Hamm Hogzilla too None of them caused the flu Wash your hands, wear a mask How’d this happen, people ask How it started I don’t know Stay away from Mexico Now it’s in the USA No one’s safe this day and age Pigs didn’t start the swine flu Blame the laboratory For this awful Story Pigs didn’t start the swine flu No we’ve been betrayed The strain appears man-made Viral codes of human flu Bird influenza’s in there too The only thing i seem to find People blame the swine Read the papers, post your blog Blame it on the lowly hog Down some aspirin, take a swig You’re infected by the pig Everyone thinks I’m contagious Read it on my twitter pages You can hug me you won’t die Come and hang out in my sty Eat your dinner throw it up No one blames it on the pup Run a temp and get the chlls Everyone run for the hills Pigs didn’t start the swine flu Blame the laboratory For this awful Story Pigs didn’t start the swine flu No we’ve been betrayed The strain appears man-made Name diseases after pigs Everyone throws …