Swine flu started as a pandemic, meaning a disease that spreads all around the globe at a fast pace, in the year 2009. The disease seemed to have subsided somewhere at the start of spring 2010. The World Health Organization officially announced on August 10, 2010, that the H1N1 influenza pandemic was finally and officially over. That means that the post-pandemic period has now started.
However, it is important not to ignore the H1N1 virus as it is going to be circulating in and around us this winter. For this reason, it has been included in the seasonal flu vaccine in the year 2010-11. WHO recommends that people who are identified as being in the high-risk groups be vaccinated against the swine flu virus. Pregnant women are also included by WHO in this high-risk group.
Others who are identified as being in this group include those individuals who suffer from chronic lung disease and heart disease. People who have a history of liver and neurological diseases are also considered vulnerable to attacks from the H1N1 virus. Another high-risk group is those who suffer from diabetes mellitus. Because there is an inherent risk of swine flu attack among these groups, it is very difficult to say with a measure of certainty that the virus is well and truly behind us.
It is important to take all precautions necessary to keep the swine flu virus under control. Developing a good, strong respiratory system and maintaining a high degree of hygiene, especially of the hands, are necessary to mitigate the risk of attacks. As it is very difficult to distinguish between ordinary flu and swine flu at the onset of the disease, it is important to get yourself tested at special swine flu testing centers to remove any element of doubt.
Physicians usually recommend temperature-regulating drugs, such as paracetamol, to relieve symptoms and reduce body temperature. Swine flu cannot be said to be a thing of the past, especially when it has been proved that the virus is capable of remaining in a dormant state for long periods until the conditions become favorable for it to become dominant and enter the human body. The antiviral medications, such as oseltamivir and zanamivir, must therefore be used with a lot of discretion.
It is important to counsel physicians, especially those practicing in public health centers in rural areas of developing countries, to use these drugs only when there is a confirmed case of swine flu. We have only a small armory in the form of these valuable medications to fight genuine cases of H1N1 virus. Using them rampantly or in a manner other than as prescribed by WHO can lead to the virus developing resistance to these drugs.
In many cases, antivirals are used by physicians to treat symptoms of swine flu. While they are not a cure for swine flu, they can definitely help by reducing the time of illness by at least one day. They are also able to relieve the symptoms and mitigate the potential of developing serious complications. Antibiotics are also useful to treat patients who have developed complications, such as pneumonia or other bacterial infections.
Swine flu is certainly not a thing of the past, though that is what most of us would like to believe. The virus can strike a vulnerable group of individuals anytime, whenever conditions become favorable for them to become active again. We must ensure that we maintain proper hygiene of our bodies and the surroundings to prevent a pandemic attack from swine flu in the future.
