|
|
This has been deemed the politically correct name. In the past, the flu was was named after the animal from which the original virus came - like bird flu, swine flu, dog flu, horse flu, etc. Or it was named after the country where it first appeared, like the 1957 Asian flu, or the 1968 Hong Kong flu.
Curiously, however, the 1918 H1N1 Spanish flu did not originate in Spain. The first cases appeared in the US and the rest of Europe long before the flu reached Spain.
However, Spain was a neutral country in World War I and had no special censorship for news about the flu and the most reliable news came from Spain. This gave the false impression that the flu was Spanish.
Anyway, these were the sort of names used for the public, such as in news reports. Names like H1N1, H5N1 (the latest bird flu virus), H2N2 (the 1957 Asian flu) or H3N2 (the 1968 Hong Kong flu) are technical names previously reserved for the scientific community, not for the public.
This time around, however, politics got in the way of naming the flu. Mexico is obviously not happy to have a new form of flu named Mexican flu. So it protested. Jews and Muslims, who do not eat pork and do not like to have anything to do with pigs, meanwhile protested about the new flu being called swine flu. Countries that export pork complained as well.
And so, the latest flu is now called Type A H1N1. This is the medical way of classifying flu viruses. Under this classification system, there are three main types of flus:
Apart from types A, B and C, there are also various sub-types calssified according to a H number and an N number. This is quite technical and there is no real need for non-medical people to know the details of this flu classification system. All types of flus produce very similar flu symptoms, such as fever, runny nose, sore throat, coughs, body aches, fatique, etc.
Should we worry about Type A H1N1 flu?
The good thing about using technical names, however, is that the public gets educated and they have a better idea about how serious or mild a particular flu virus is. And so we now know that Type A H1N1, is highly contagious. It spreads easily. On 18 May, about three weeks after the first case appeared, more than 1,000 new cases were detected on just that one day. The flu has already infected about 10,000 people in 40 countries.
That's the bad news. The good news is that, so far, it has proven to be mild. Although several people have died, most others affected by the current A H1N1 virus experienced only mild flu symptoms.
However, flu viruses keep changing, or mutating. And what we still don't know is whether the current strain of swine flu will later mutate into something more harmful. That was what happened with the 1918 Spanish flu. The initial strain was relatively mild, but later it became deadly. The present swine flu and the 1918 Spanish flu are in some ways related. Both are Type A H1N1.
Another piece of possible bad news is that the new flu may be resistant to antiviral drugs like Tamiflu, which is currently regarded as the most effective antiviral flu drug available.
So far, we are told (by government health authorities) that the new virus still responds to drug treatment. However, scientific studies done so far have revealed that other types of Type A H1N1 viruses have become almost totally drug resistant. In the 2007/08 flu season, about 12 percent of this virus were found to be drug-resistant. In the 2008/09 flu season, the drug resistance rate rose to about 98 percent!
Rather than worry and panic, you would be better off simply taking better care of your health, understanding the various flu issues such as what causes the flu and whether flu vaccines are effective and safe. In another article, I shall discuss the parallels between the present swine flu and the 1918 Spanish flu. That should give us a better idea of the extent of the risks that we face and the lessons we can learn from it.
Most importantly, learn how to prevent the flu naturally!