Questions and answers about swine flu

Some questions and answers about the illness:
Q. What is swine flu?
A. Swine flu is a respiratory illness in pigs caused by a virus. The swine flu virus routinely causes outbreaks in pigs but doesn’t usually kill many of them.

Q. Can people get swine flu?A. Swine flu viruses don’t usually infect humans. There have been occasional cases, usually among people who’ve had direct contact with infected pigs, such as farm workers. ‘We’ve seen swine influenza in humans over the past several years, and in most cases, it’s come from direct pig contact. This seems to be different,’ said Dr Arnold Monto, a flu expert with the University of Michigan.Q. Can it spread among humans?A. There have been cases of the virus spreading from human to human, probably in the same way as seasonal flu, through coughing and sneezing by infected people.Q. What are the symptoms of swine flu?A. The symptoms are similar to those of regular flu – fever, cough, fatigue, lack of appetite.Q. Is the same swine flu virus making people sick in Mexico and the US?A. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the Mexican virus samples match the US virus. The virus is a mix of human virus, bird virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia.Q. Are there drugs to treat swine flu in humans?A. There are four different drugs approved in the US to treat the flu, but the new virus has shown resistance to the two oldest. The CDC recommends the use of the flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza.Q. Does a regular flu shot protect against swine flu?A. The seasonal flu vaccine won’t likely provide protection against the latest swine flu virus. There is a swine flu vaccine for pigs but not for humans.Q. What precautions can we take?A. Be aware of the illness and take precautions to protect against infections, like washing your hands. There is no danger in eating cooked pork.- Nampa-Reuters