H1N1

American agriculture officials had changed ‘Swine Flu’ to ‘H1N1’. The reason why they changed was that the name ‘Swine Flu’ caused some problems with pork products. The virus infects through air and has nothing to do with consuming pork products. There is also no risk of infection from the virus from consumption of well-cooked pork. Even though this disease infects through air, people still need to wash their hands and try to keep themselves clean. It also will be a good idea to wear a gauze mask in public places. This is a good protection to them. In addition, travelers should pay attention on this and the airports security in every country should be.

The virus has been spread to some of countries and it is still spreading around the globe. Everyday we can hear the report from the news of confirming cases and number of death form many countries. As we already knew, some people around the world have died from the disease. In America, some schools and public places closed because of H1N1. In Mexico, the situation was worse. Many people have died. Now it is getting better. There had been 45 deaths in Mexico, two in the United States, one in Canada and one in Costa Rica. The scary thing is there are so many people out there in different countries have infected HIN1. There are at least 18 counties affected.

In the Untied States, there are three of H1N1 cases from California, four are from Texas, and 17 are from New York City. This number could be changed by any possibility. Moreover, the Obama administration has asked Congress for a $1.5 billion supplemental appropriation to deal with the H1N1 (Swine flu) outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted emergency use of influenza medicines and some diagnostic test for response to the H1N1 virus outbreak.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has received the report the death or confirmed cases from Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Guatemala, Austria, China (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), Colombia, Denmark, El Salvador, Portugal, Public of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, New Zealand, Israel, Spain, Norway, Poland, France, Panama and Guatemala. I think it could be more than this, because the disease is still spreading around the world.

Furthermore, there is another search showed that many H1N1 cases have no fever. It surprised some people, because the textbook say that in an influenza outbreak the predictive sign of fever and cough is 90 percent. Many people suffering from the influenza, even those who are seriously ill, do not have fever. This odd feature of the new virus could be very difficult to control.

In New Zealand, the number of suspected H1N1 cases has decreased obviously. The Ministry of Health reported that there were 50 suspected cases, but now the number of suspected cases is down to 18 on 12th May. The number of confirmed cases stayed at seven and the number of probable cases stayed at 12.

This disease has killed many people and people who got H1N1, are still fighting with the virus. This disease is very active in autumn and winter, so people need to be careful with the seasonal influenza as well. It would be a good idea to stay at home, because it would be easier to get the virus from public places. I also have found a website which showed you what the swine flu is; what swine flu symptoms are, what should you do if you think you have swine flu; How does it spread and treated; It talks about a vaccine as well; how can you prevent; can you still eat pork; what else should you be doing; how serious is swine flu; why has the swine flu infection been deadlier in Mexico than in other countries; are you still protected if you were vaccinated against the 1976 swine flu virus; how many people have swine flu, etc. It explains you in detail. I think it would be useful for everybody.

In conclusion, the H1N1 virus is still spreading and people are still suffering. We should be more careful with everything we do. We all wish the number of death, suspected cases, probable cases and confirmed cases would drop as soon as possible.


Reference list
Traditional news organization:

Mapping the outbreak. (2009). Retrieved May 13, 2009, from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/world/2009/swine_flu/default.stm

USDA: Please Call It H1N1, Not Swine Flu. (2009). Retrieved April 28, 2009, from
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518272,00.html

Lawrence, A. (2009). Many Swine Flu Cases Have No Fever. Retrieved May 12, 2009, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/health/13fever.html?_r=3&partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099

Suspected swine flu cases drop in NZ. (2009). Retrieved May 12, 2009, from
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/5560592/suspected-swine-flu-cases-drop-nz/

Five more suspected swine flu cases. (2009). Retrieved May 11, 2009, from
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10571667

Less known alternative sources:

Miranda, H. (2009). Swine Flu FAQ. Retrieved in 2009, from
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/20061101/swine-flu-faq

Timeline: Swine flu. (2009). Retrieved April 29, 2009, from
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090429/full/news.2009.416.html

ScienceDaily. (2009). Swine Flu Update: At Least 18 Countries Affected; Human-to-Pig Infection Reported In Canada. Retrieved May 3, 2009, from
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090503190223.htm

Cindy, S. (2009). Number of Swine Flu Cases Approaches 1,500 Worldwide. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from
http://www.voafanti.com/gate/big5/www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-05-voa52.cfm

SWINE FLU BREAKING NEWS. (2009). Retrieved April 28, 2009, from
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/apr2809breaknews-jw.html

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