What is Swine Flu?
H1N1 flu is also known as swine flu. It’s called swine flu because in the past, the people who caught it had direct contact with pigs. That changed several years ago, when a new virus emerged that spread among people who hadn’t been near pigs.
How do you catch it?
The same way as the seasonal flu. When people who have it cough or sneeze, they spray tiny drops of the virus into the air. If you come in contact with these drops, touch a surface (like a doorknob or sink) where the drops landed, or touch something an infected person has recently touched, you can catch H1N1 swine flu.
People who have it can spread it one day before they have any symptoms and as many as 7 days after they get sick. Kids can be contagious for as long as 10 days.
Symptoms
These, too, are pretty much the same as seasonal flu. They can include:
- Cough
- Fever
- Sore throat
- Stuffy or runny nose
- Body aches
- Headache
- Chills
- Fatigue
Like the regular flu, swine flu can lead to more serious problems including pneumonia, a lung infection, and other breathing problems. And it can make an illness like diabetes or asthma worse. If you have symptoms like shortness of breath, severe vomiting, pain in your belly or sides, dizziness or confusion, call your doctor.
How is it treated
Some of the same antiviral drugs that are used to treat seasonal flu also work against H1N1 swine flu. Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), peramivir (Rapivab), and zanamivir (Relenza) seem to work best, although some kinds of swine flu don’t respond to oseltamivir.
These drugs can help you get well faster. They can also make you feel better. They work best when you take them within 48 hours of the first flu symptoms, but they can help you even if you get them later on.
Antibiotics won’t do anything for you. That’s because flu is caused by a virus, not bacteria. Over-the-counter pain remedies and cold and flu medications can help relieve aches, pains, and fever. Don’t give aspirin to children under age 18 because of the risk of Reye’s syndrome. Make sure that over-the-counter cold medications do not have aspirin before giving them to children.
Prevention
- Wash your hands often. If available, use soap and water, washing for at least 20 seconds. Or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that has at least 60% alcohol.
- Cover your coughs and sneezes. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow. Then wash your hands.
- Avoid touching your face. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Clean and disinfect surfaces. Regularly clean often-touched surfaces to prevent spread of infection from a surface with the virus on it to your body.
- Avoid contact with the virus. Try to avoid people who are sick or have symptoms of flu. And if you have symptoms, stay home if you can. When flu is spreading, consider keeping distance between yourself and others while indoors, especially in areas with poor air flow. If you’re at high risk of complications from the flu consider avoiding swine barns at seasonal fairs and elsewhere.
- When infected, or in contact with infected persons, wear a mask.
Information courtesy of Mayo Clinic and WebMD
