Swine Flu Symptoms

Swine flu is a new flu outbreak in the humans caused by a new strain of influenza A virus. The origin of this new strain is not known, but it is suspected that this virus may be transmitted from pigs to humans and vice versa. Since this new strain of virus has pig and bird influenza virus in it, and also the fact that there is no vaccine as yet to prevent this, the humans may not have an immunity against it.

The symptoms of swine flu are the same as normal flu and hence most people may not suspect it to be swine flu. These include symptoms like cold, cough, sore throat along with high fever and chills. People may also complain of lethargy and muscle aches, while some others may have vomiting and diarrhea along with the other symptoms. Interestingly, the same kind of symptoms can also be found in pigs that are affected with swine flu and these symptoms are namely fever, sneezing, accompanied with lethargy and decreased appetite. However, one thing that is noticeable in pigs affected with swine flu is that the pigs may lose 12 pounds of weight within a span of 3-4 weeks.

In order to diagnose swine flu, the respiratory sample of the patient has to be sent to the lab within the first 5 days of illness. Swine flu can spread to others through kissing, coughing, sneezing, touching infected objects etc. Hence, at the first onset of these symptoms patients are advised to stay at home and refrain from going out unless it is for medical reasons, so that the chances of the disease transmitting to others are minimized.

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Swine Flu Symptoms