THE A/H1N1 VIRUS

Every third person in the world may catch "swine flu", specialists have told the British magazine Science. According to the experts, though "swine flu" has not become a pandemic yet, this disease has all particularities typical of this title. "Swine flu" has already taken over several countries, is easily transmitted from one person to another and may turn into a global problem in the next six to nine months.

Researchers at London's Imperial College have calculated that one third of the Earth's population risks contracting "swine flu", and four cases in each six thousand will have a lethal outcome. The growing panic follows the World Health Organization (WHO) report about the threat of pandemic increasing to four on a six-point scale, which means that the disease is transmitted from man to man. According to the WHO (at the moment this article was written), the number of "swine flu" cases in 33 different countries has reached 5,251 of which 61 had a lethal income. Based on the preliminary analysis of the "swine flu" outbreak, of which Mexico was the epicentre, the scientists drew the conclusion that the N1H1 virus is as dangerous as the virus which provoked the pandemic of 1957 and claimed two million lives. The World Bank has allocated 205 million dollars to Mexico to fight "swine flu".

At the same time, it proved possible to ascertain that the "swine flu" virus is as dangerous as "Spanish flu" which claimed 50 million lives in 1918. The WHO also points out that the world community is better prepared for a possible pandemic of the new virus than five years ago when "bird flu" emerged. The organization has already started preliminary work to prepare laboratories to produce a vaccine which may be needed if the disease spreads among pigs, and it may be ready by the summer of 2009.

Sky News reports that the outbreak of the disease has turned the Mexican capital into a "ghost town". The US embassy has stopped issuing visas, RIA Novosti reports. Twenty people are infected in the USA. A Mexican man suspected of having "swine flu" has been hospitalized in Brazil. Eight possible cases of "swine flu" have been discovered in Spain. According to ITAR-TASS, the "swine flu" virus has been discovered in six Canadian citizens. In New Zealand, teenagers who visited Mexico in two separate groups are believed to have contracted "swine flu", AP reports. Forty people voluntarily remain in quarantine. Two Australians who also visited Mexico have been hospitalized in Queensland with symptoms of the disease. Possible cases of the disease have been reported in Israel, France and Britain. The Dominican Republic, Bolivia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines have introduced measures to prevent the spread of "swine flu". Russia has set up a government commission to prevent the spread of the disease in the country.

Knowing the enemy by sight

So, what is swine flu and what are the symptoms of the disease? It is an ordinary type of influenza which affects only pigs. Birds suffer from bird flu and humans suffer from human flu - Group B. Swine flu is similar to the clinical picture of human flu. Apart from their own strain, pigs are also susceptible to avian and human flu.

It is interesting that in August 2004, Reuters reported that the head of the Chinese national laboratory, who studied "bird flu", said at a WHO conference in Beijing that some Chinese provinces had registered cases of "bird flu" in pigs, which killed them. The Chinese scientist expressed concern about the possible mutation of the virus resulting in a pandemic.

The media are now saying that the dangerous virus derives from the genetic material of birds, pigs and humans. Its precise code is still not known. It is essential that the virus is transmitted from one man to another, which was not the case in "bird flu". So why is "swine flu" the most dangerous link in this endless cyclicity of flu on Earth? What is it?

"Swine flu" is an acute infectious disease of airways. It was discovered in 1931 by Richard Shope from America. It is categorized as a Group A causative agent, which means that it belongs to the type of strains that may cause devastating pandemics. If ordinary flu normally affects old people and children with weak immunity, "swine flu" affects mainly young men aged from 20 to 50, and there are cases when children and women were also infected.

How do pigs contract this disease? The source of the virus for the pigs is the larva of pulmonary nematodes. These are small parasitical worms. They live in turn in pigs and earthworms. While in the pig, these worms contract the virus and lay eggs that contain this virus. Then, the eggs penetrate soil and earthworms. Pigs eat those worms, and in this way, "swine flu" naturally circulates. While in the host body (in the pig's lungs), the virus may not be detected for a long time. It can live for 35 months. In order for the virus to awaken, the pig should experience strong stress, get a cold or significantly weaken his immunity.

People have no immunity to "swine flu" yet. Nor is there any accurate information about the genetic structure of the causative agent of this mysterious and dangerous disease. It is not known how it spreads. For this reason, measures to prevent "swine flu" in countries affected by A/H1N1, apart from masks, include a ban on handshakes, kisses and hugs.

What do you have to know?

Scientists claim that for most people, the risk of contracting the "swine flu" virus is very low. However, you still have to protect yourself. Specialists still do not know how long you have to be in contact with an infected person in order to contract the disease. The virus is transmitted mainly through coughing and sneezing (like ordinary flu - through breathing) or what is more important, by touching your mouth and nose with dirty hands. The virus may remain on the surface for several hours, for example, on a door handle touched by a person who sneezed into his hand. The symptoms of "swine flu" resemble ordinary flu - high temperature, coughing, sore throat, headache, fever and weakness. Some people vomit and have diarrhea. It is necessary to avoid close contact with people who have symptoms of flu and to keep away from crowded areas. At the same time, there is no point in taking medicines as a preventive measure. Unreasonable use of anti-viral medicines might make the virus immune to them. You are well-advised to frequently take a breath of fresh air, to eat more vegetables and fruits, practice sports, sleep well and observe rules of personal hygiene.

First and foremost, it is necessary to understand that no-one knows for sure how may people this strain of the virus kills and how many people carry it. Only some of suspicious deaths were investigated and the "swine flu" diagnosis was confirmed, while most of lethal outcomes were attributed to pneumonia. On the whole, ordinary flu kills more than two million people in the world every year. The deaths are not caused by flu, but by serious complications after the viral infection. These are mainly lung (acute pneumonia) or heart diseases.

Scientists maintain that in its early stages, "swine flu" may be cured with the help of new types of medicines. As for whether it is safe to consume pork, specialists stress that "swine flu" does not spread through food (cooked and boiled meat). It may be dangerous to cut uncooked infected meat though not a single person has yet been reported to have contracted "swine flu" in this way.

Swine has not yet reached Azerbaijan

"The State Veterinary Service (SVS) of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture is taking all necessary measures to prevent the A/H1N1 virus from getting into the country," Yolcu Xanvali, the head of the ministry's press office, told R+. For example, on 27 April, the import of cargo under veterinary supervision from Mexico and the USA, including animal products, was temporarily banned in Azerbaijan. Last month, not a single product of this type was imported from those countries, except from Brazil from where a consignment of chicken was imported several months ago.

Apart from that, the SVS is currently monitoring local pig-breeding farms. "We are analyzing the general condition of animals, measuring their temperature and so on. The staff of these farms have had a medical examination as well," Xanvali said. He did not rule out that soon, the SVS will ban the import of food products from Europe - France, Spain, the Czech Republic and so on, since "swine flu" has already been reported to have infiltrated those countries.

The customs and medical services at Heydar Aliyev international airport closely monitor all flights from Mexico, the USA and Canada. Flight attendants must immediately notify ground services about any passenger feeling poorly.

Another theory

Many people see the emergence of the new disease as evidence of the conspiracy theory, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reports. The situation is becoming tense and hysteria is being fomented, it said. Inopressa reported a story that was made public on 18 March. It said that the US military personnel had allegedly dug out the body of a man who died of Spanish flu in 1918. They extracted the genome from his remains in order to develop a new virus. Now this story is often linked to the outbreak of "swine flu" in Mexico. The theory has captured the minds of numerous Internet visitors, the Italian newspaper writes. Many are saying that the alarm was sounded too late. Some recall a mysterious episode that took place at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Three test tubes of the "horse flu" virus disappeared there in a modern laboratory closely linked to the Pentagon. The authorities are saying that the test tubes are likely to have been destroyed. But not everyone believes the official theory and they see this story as a link to the current events.