The swine flu (also known as H1N1 influenza) got its name because of the similarities between it and strains of the flu that infect swine. It is thought that the virus is derived from pig-infecting strain that developed genetic mutations that allow it to infect humans. It was first detected in people in the United States in April of 2009 and was determined to be a pandemic in June of 2009 by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Pandemic Risk
According to the WHO, one of the top risks of the swine flu is the chance that it could cause a pandemic. When you become infected with one strain of the flu, your immune system becomes activated against the virus, which helps keep you from becoming infected again (its also the principle that the flu vaccine is based on). Although there are many strains of the flu virus, most of them are similar to each other, which means that immunity to one flu strain grants resistance to other ones. The swine flu virus, however, is different enough that most people have no immunological resistance to it, which means that it is more contagious and can potentially cause more serious infections.
Symptoms
According to Medline, although the swine flu comes from a somewhat different kind of flu virus, it still causes symptoms that resemble most other cases of the flu. This means that for most people, the swine flu will cause a fever as well as aches or chills in the body. Some patients also experience a sore throat or a cough. Somewhat rarer symptoms include gastrointestinal problems, such as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The flu symptoms from the swine flu may be somewhat more severe than those caused by seasonal flu strains, however.
Complications and Fatalities
According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately 36,000 people die each year from complications relating to the seasonal flu, typically as a result of being in "high risk" categories for complications from the flu. These high-risk individuals include people over the age of 65 or under the age of five, people with compromised immune systems (such as patients receiving chemotherapy or those who are HIV-positive), as well as pregnant women, diabetics, and people with heart, lung or kidney disease. Early data suggest that these same "high-risk" individuals have a greater risk of developing complications from H1N1, and 70 percent of all swine flu hospitalizations have occurred in "high-risk" people, as well as the majority of fatalities.
