In 2005 it was discovered that H5N1 “could be infecting up to half of the pig population in some areas of Indonesia, but without causing symptoms [...] Chairul Nidom, a virologist at Airlangga University's tropical disease center in Surabaya, Java, [Indonesia] was conducting independent research earlier this year. He tested the blood of 10 apparently healthy pigs housed near poultry farms in western Java where avian flu had broken out, Nature reported. Five of the pig samples contained the H5N1 virus. The Indonesian government has since found similar results in the same region, Nature reported. Additional tests of 150 pigs outside the area were negative.”[7]
[edit] Veterinary swine flu vaccine
Swine influenza has become a greater problem in recent decades. Evolution of the virus has resulted in inconsistent responses to traditional vaccines. Standard commercial swine flu vaccines are effective in controlling the problem when the virus strains match enough to have significant cross-protection and custom (autogenous) vaccines made from the specific viruses isolated are created and used in the more difficult cases.[8] SIV vaccine manufacture Novartis paints this picture: “A strain of swine influenza virus (SIV) called H3N2, first identified in the US in 1998, has brought exasperating production losses to swine producers. Abortion storms are a common sign. Sows go off feed for two or three days and run a fever up to 106°F. Mortality in a naïve herd can run as high as 15%.”[9]
[edit] 1918 epidemic
Main article: Spanish Flu
In the spring of 1918, swine influenza mutated into a severe form in just a few months. Eighty percent of the victims became severely ill and died, while the rest suffered from mild symptoms. In the US, the first deaths were recorded among sailors in Boston in August 1918, and the epidemic quickly spread to all parts of the country. Between the autumn of 1918 and the spring of 1919, 548,452 people died of this flu in the US. In the UK, France and Germany, around 600,000 people died. Worldwide, the number of casualties was between 20 and 50 million, or maybe more. The puzzling fact is that the epidemic erupted almost simultaneously at distant locations, therefore it is likely that the virus was incubated in people with only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Other inexplicable facts are that the disease attacked people in their twenties and thirties, thought to have strong immune systems, and most of the infections were lethal. At the military prison at Deer Island (Massachusetts) in Boston Harbor there was an attempt to develop a vaccine during the 1918 outbreak.[10]
[edit] 1976 U.S. outbreak
On February 5, 1976, an army recruit at Fort Dix said he felt tired and weak. He died the next day and four of his fellow soldiers were later hospitalized. Two weeks after his death, health officials announced that swine flu was the cause of death and that this strain of flu appeared to be closely related to the strain involved in the 1918 flu pandemic. Alarmed public-health officials decided that action must be taken to head off another major pandemic, and they urged that every person in the U.S. be vaccinated for the disease. President Gerald Ford was confronted with a potential swine flu pandemic. The vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, but about 24% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled. [11]
There is “enough evidence to suggest that” about 500 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome resulting in death from severe pulmonary complications for 25 people was caused by an immunopathological reaction to the vaccine in some people.[11] Other influenza vaccines have not been linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome.[12]
[edit] 2007 Philippine outbreak
On August 20, 2007, Department of Agriculture officers investigated the outbreak of swine flu in Nueva Ecija and Central Luzon, Philippines. The mortality rate is less than 10 % for swine flu, if there are no complications like hog cholera. Earlier, or on July 27, 2007, the Philippine National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) raised a hog cholera “red alert” warning over Metro Manila and 5 regions of Luzon after the disease spread to backyard pig farms in Bulacan and Pampanga, even if these tested negative for the swine flu virus.[13][14]
[edit] 2009 Mexico outbreak
This section documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
See also: H1N1
[15][16]
In March and April 2009, nearly 1,000 cases of swine flu in humans were detected in the southwestern United States and in Mexico, causing more than 60 deaths.[17] The first two cases detected in the US were two children living in two different counties near San Diego, California, who became ill on March 28 and 30.[18] The story was broadcast live first in Mexico on 2009-04-23 at around 11 pm and was reported by The Art Dept Chronicles early the next morning. A new swine flu strain has been confirmed in 16 of the deaths and 44 others are being tested as of 24 April 2009.[19] The Mexican cases are said to be mainly young adults, a hallmark of pandemic flu.[20]
On April 24, 2009, schools (from pre-school to university level)as well as libraries, museums and any public gathering place, were shut down by the government in Mexico City and neighbouring State of Mexico to prevent the disease from spreading further. News sources report the spread as far north as San Diego.[21]
After spreading in Mexico it crossed the border to the U.S.,[citation needed] causing eight human cases in Texas and California. The patients have recovered. The acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that preliminary tests on 7 out of 14 samples from patients in Mexico had matched the virus found in the US, which experts say is a new strain of swine flu.[19] Officials believe that human-to-human transmission has been occurring.[21]
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement “Because there are human cases associated with an animal influenza virus, and because of the geographical spread of multiple community outbreaks, plus the somewhat unusual age groups affected, these events are of high concern” and “WHO acknowledges the United States and Mexico for their proactive reporting and their collaboration with WHO and will continue to work with Member States to further characterize the outbreak”.[22]
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