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People tend to believe that flu is contagious and is caused by human to human transmission. But the fact is that a flu virus is basically zoonotic, which means that it has the ability to transmit from animals to humans and vice versa. |
The main thing about pigs is that they are unique in the sense that they are prone to catching infection from other animals as well as other birds. Moreover, since they are similar to humans in a biological and physiological way, they can easily pass on the virus to the humans. This happens more frequently in farms where the farmers are in close contact with the pigs. When the pig comes into contact with another infected pig or any infected bird or a person who is suffering from flu, then it can easily catch the infection. Likewise it goes the same way, when the pig is transmitting the disease.
Since flu is a respiratory tract disease, it spreads easily by sneezing, coughing and direct contact. There have been instances in the past where humans have been diagnosed with flu on account of being in direct contact with sick pigs. Hence, this is not something new. But all said and done, a flu that is caused by the pigs may not be as dangerous as avian flu because the risk of the flu passing on from a pig to human is 10 to 10,000 times less and also the number of deaths caused by such a flu are much less than that caused by avian flu.
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