WHO Says H1N1 Swine Flu “Unstoppable”
The new H1N1 swine flu virus is “unstoppable”, according to the World Health Organization, who has given drug makers full authorization to manufacture vaccines against the circulating strain of influenza. Healthcare workers are to be the first to receive the vaccine.
The H1N1 virus appears to attack people differently than seasonal influenza. It tends to affect younger people, the severely obese and often healthy adults.
The elderly seem to have some immunity to this H1N1 swine flu virus which is a very distant cousin of the H1N1 swine flu virus that caused the 1918 pandemic which was the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. People born before 1920 have been found to have the antibodies to the 1918 viral strain.
The H1N1 swine flu virus is also different from the seasonal flu in that it causes disease deep in the lungs and does not infect the nose and throat. It also tends to cause gastrointestinal effects, whereas most seasonal influenza viruses affect the nose and throat, and usually do not cause gastrointestinal symptoms.
Source: Journal of Nature, July 2009
Source: Reuters, July 2009
Source: World Health Organization, July 2009
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