The swine flu virus, alternatively known by its scientific
name, the Type A H1N1 virus, is responsible for causing the major
outbreak in evidence today. The new virus was first detected in US
citizens about a month ago in April 2009. The swine flu virus is
capable of spreading person-to-person in much the way that regular flu
spreads.
The virus came to the associated with swine because early tests
revealed that the genetic structure of this virus is strikingly similar
to the genetic structure found in influenza viruses that attack
populations of pigs in North America. But studies carried out after
that have yielded results that show that this initial assessment
was somewhat flawed. This virus has parent genes from the normal pig
flu virus that is seen in Europe and Asia, but it also possesses
fragments of genes from viruses that attack birds and humans. The swine
flu virus is today known as the triple-reassortment virus for this
reason.
There have been several instances of swine flu infection in the US in
the past month; the first ones were found in California and Texas.
Swine flu infections have rapidly spread and practically no state is
left out now. The CDC advises that infections of the swine flu virus
are contagious and spreading from person to person; how contagious
these infections |
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