Infectious diseases

Name: Swine Flu

Year: 2009 – 2010

Infected: 1,632,710

Dead: 18,449

The flu strains that infect pigs undergo a shift when they spread to people. Then there is a further mutation (drift) that occurs during the permanence of the pathogen in a species.

In 2009 a first mutation occurred in Mexico with the first outbreaks of swine infection in humans.

The flu pandemic A / H1N1 was the first after 40 years and also the first of the 21st century. The virus was then called influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 to differentiate it from the 1918 pandemic, caused by the H1N1 strain.

The infection spreads by air through person-to-person droplets or through contact with surfaces contaminated with infected biological fluids.

The virus has spread mainly among young people and adults and much less among the elderly and children. The elderly were less affected as they underwent more flu vaccination and this helped decrease the infection.

The symptoms are those of a normal flu. The cases of aggravations in primary viral pneumonia are quite low.

Source: web