Swine Flu starts in Mexico, reaches US, Europe

The news on Swine Flu is that it has triggered the long-readied WHO Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response in most parts of the world. This plan was put in place several years ago, when it was expected to be required for Avian flu. As it turns out, this virus came from pigs, rather than birds.

A pandemic is an infection (usually passed to humans from another species), which is easily passed from human to human, and spreads across several countries – or the world. Because of rapid transport in the twenty first century, and the fact that people often travel hundreds or thousands of miles just for recreation, illnesses which might once have been confined mainly within a single country can spread around the world very easily.

The WHO has announced that the pandemic has reached Stage 5. “Human to human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to sustain community-level outbreaks has been verified and the same identified virus has caused sustained community outbreaks in two or more countries in one WHO region,” and has asked that all countries activate their Pandemic Preparedness plans.

It is advised that people do not travel to affected areas unless this is essential.

There have been a number of deaths in Mexico, but it’s not clear how many people have actually been infected there, as in many cases, symptoms are so light that it might be mistaken for a cold or regular influenza infection. This makes it difficult to estimate the percentage of likely deaths in the event that the illness does turn into a pandemic.

Unfortunately, it’s just been announced on the BBC News that a death has occurred in the US as a result of this virus.