Dr. Becky's Article

SWINE FLU - Real Threat or All Hype?

May 2, 2009

For the last two weeks, news headlines have been dominated by the swine flu.  With such media hysteria, it is often difficult to discern what is true and what is not.  Many people are concerned and are not sure how to best protect their families and themselves. I hope to shed some light on this and put some fears to rest.

So why is there so much anxiety surrounding this particular strain of flu?  The main reason is that the swine flu pandemic of 1918 affected nearly one third of the world’s population and killed approximately 50 million people. Swine flu is caused by an influenza virus and can be spread to humans by infected pigs. Once a human is infected, the virus is spread in the same manner as regular seasonal flu (via airborne organisms).

Symptoms of the swine flu are basically the same as typical flu symptoms and include fever, body aches, cough, headache, and sometimes nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.  Anyone with these symptoms should be examined by a health care provider. The swine flu has been shown to be susceptible to antiviral medicines, and these medicines tend to be most beneficial if they are started within the first 48 hours of the illness.  As with regular flu, deaths from swine flu tend to occur from pneumonia. So far in the United States there has been only one death attributed to the swine flu. To put this in perspective, around 30,000 people in the United States die from seasonal flu each year.

People with the swine flu are considered to be infectious from one day prior to the onset of symptoms to seven days after the onset.  Anyone with the swine flu or with flu-like symptoms should stay home until the infectious period has passed.  Of course, use common sense measures such as frequent hand washing and use of hand sanitizers.  So far, the cases in the United States have appeared to be fairly mild, although it is not yet known how widespread this disease will be.  Even if more severe cases do occur, the many advances in medicine that have occurred since 1918 will certainly help prevent such a high number of deaths. We now have effective antiviral medications and antibiotics to treat secondary pneumonia.  Researchers also say that a swine flu vaccine may be available in 4-6 months. This is not a time to panic, but a time to prepare, educate, and protect ourselves and our families.