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HOW IS H1N1 SWINE FLU TRAMSMITTED

Posted by Admin on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - 02:29 AM

H1N1 Swine Flu is a virus that lives in pigs, humans and birds. It is extremely aggressive and can be dangerous if not treated properly. There are vaccines designed to prevent almost all types of swine flu but since they are constantly mutating and producing new strains it is difficult to control and even more to eradicate.

Pigs in a farm or in the wild are usually together, close together. They eat and drink from the same food and water, they also sleep together. Swine flu is transmitted between them by contact between their noses, by sharing food and eating and drinking from the same feeding and drinking bins. This is the way they transmit the virus when in the same pen. Infection occurs in the whole farm, not just the one pen, dry mucus in their snouts and face is made airborne by the wind and air circulating around the farm, this air filled with virus is breathed by other pigs and infection occurs. Suddenly the complete farm is infected, in fact, if wild boar or wild pigs live nearby they can also be infected by the airborne virus in the same manner that their virus can infect the pigs in the pen.

Pigs are sold and exchanged for breading purposes and for slaughter, when they leave the farm they will also be infected by different strains of virus from the new farm. Their virus will mix and mutate producing a brand new strain which will need a new medication. Swine flu does not kill pigs, it just makes them sick and uncomfortable. Swine flu in pig farms shows up at the same time seasonal human flu shows up, this is how it has managed to infect humans.

The employees and caretakers of the pigs are in constant contact with the air these breath, the pens and other instruments used for care. All these that have had contact with a sick pig are virus carriers. There is no record of when humans got infected by swine flu, but it is a fact. Pig flu and human flu have interacted, mutated and shared genes creating new powerful strains that affect both. The same thing happened with bird flu, caretakers and bird farm employees got eventually infected and by air contact or physical contact with infected surfaces. Humans now face a virus such as the H1N1, which is a combination and mutation of all three viruses, pig, human and bird. The H1N1 swine influenza virus is very strong, very aggressive and it is airborne all over the world.

Humans are used to live in close contact with each other, they ride buses, trains, car pool, subways and airplanes together. They go to school, movies, stadiums and churches together. These are all fertile grounds for the virus to spread at will. Humans like to hug and kiss, to whisper in each other’s ears and touch each other. The H1N1 swine flu virus is transmitted by contact with a surface which has been touched by an infected person before, it is transmitted by breathing the same air an infected person has exhaled, it is transmitted through using the dame eating utensils this person used. Physical contact with the virus is required, but since it is airborne anywhere and everywhere you find an infected person it is extremely difficult to avoid. Even after being vaccinated you might still catch it because the vaccines effective rate is only 80%. Complete isolation of infected persons is the only way to slow swine flu down, it cannot be eradicated, and all we can do is keeping up with the new strains evolving every year.