What Is Swine Flu

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WHAT IS THE SWINE FLU

Well, the swine flu is normally a disease which affects the animals on the left of this page, PIGS.

It is caused by the influenza type A virus. The disease breaks out regularly amongst pigs.  It causes the animals to be very ill but does not usually kill them. Autumn and Winter tend to be the times it is normally around but can spring up at any time throughout the year.

Swine flu comes in many different types and just as in human flu, the struture of the infection is constantly changing.

Humans are not normally affected by swine flu, although there are cases reported they are quite low. Pigs have also been reported as passing on the problem to humans

Human to human transmission of swine flu apreads in the same way as seasonal flu – through coughing and sneezing.

The problem is that the outbreak which started in Mexico seems to be a new type of swine flu that contains DNA that is normally discovered in birds.

It has been confirmed byThe World Health Organization that at least some of the cases are caused by this new strain of Swine flu - H1N1.

A WHO spokesman said "We are very, very concerned," He went on to say. "We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human... It's all hands on deck at the moment."

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