Swine Flu is a type of flu that normally only affects pigs. Recently, human Swine Flu cases have been reported in California, Atlanta and Texas and may be linked to an outbreak in Mexico.ATLANTA - Health officials are investigating a never-before-seen form of the flu that combines pig, bird and human viruses and which has infected seven people in California and Texas. All the victims recovered, but the cases are a growing medical mystery because it’s unclear how they caught the virus.
Because of intensive searching, it’s likely health officials will find additional cases of the Swine Flu which may be linked to an outbreak in Mexico.
Scientists are keeping a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu.
Mexico shut down schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across its overcrowded capital in hopes of containing a swine flu outbreak that authorities say killed at least 20 people and perhaps dozens more. World health authorities worried openly that the strange new virus could become a global epidemic.
Mexico’s response to out break of the Swine Flu is to administer its remaining 500,000 vaccines from the flu season to health workers, the highest risk group, although it is not known how effective they are on Swine Flu. It said it also has enough oseltamivir, the generic name of Tamiflu, to treat 1 million people, but the medicine will be strictly controlled and handed out only by doctors.
They also said Mexicans should refrain from customary greetings such as shaking hands or kissing cheeks, and authorities at Mexico City’s international airport were questioning passengers to try to prevent anybody with possible influenza from boarding airplanes and spreading the disease.
Still, U.S. health officials said it’s not yet a reason for alarm in the United States. The six in California and two in Texas have all recovered, and testing indicates some common antiviral medications seem to work against the virus.
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