The Story So Far..

The 2009 Swine Flu Outbreak began in Mexico, to date, it remains the most affected country. The strain, H1N1, is a strain of influenza, or flu. The World Health Organisation, or WHO, now have this H1N1 strain at alert level 5. This means they feel a pandemic, which is a world-wide outbreak of the strain, is imminent.

The flu was first confirmed in Mexico on April 12th 2009, when a small outbreak of flu-like illness was reported to the Pan-American Health Organisation. A death in Mexico came the next day, April 13th 2009, this was later confirmed to be this strain of swine flu.

The illness spread all over Mexico, not just in Mexico City, and then, over the border to the United States. Cases started to be reported in California. The 1st American death came on April 29th, when a 23 month old baby in Texas was killed by the disease. During the time between the 13th and 29th April 2009 the virus had spread around the world.

As I write on the 1st May 2009 at 3.00pm GMT +1, British Summer Time, the current statistics look like this:

-There have been 13 confirmed deaths;
*12 in Mexico
*1 in the United States

-There are a further 168 suspected deaths;
*All in Mexico

-There are 524 confirmed cases throughout the world;
*312 in Mexico
*109 in the United States
*34 in Canada
*13 in Spain
*8 in the UK
*5 in Germany
*4 in New Zealand
*2 in Costa Rica and Israel
*1 in Switzerland, South Korea, Austria, Ireland and The Netherlands

-There are over 4000 suspected cases around the world;
*Almost 2500 in Mexico
*Over 400 in countries that have not already been mentioned
*Almost 250 of these suspected cases are currently probable.

This information is taken from www.Wikipedia.org, and the www.BBC.co.uk

Several questions come to mind like, "Am I at risk?", "What does this mean for me?" and "What should I do to protect myself?".

Whether or not you are at risk depends on what country you live in. If you are in a country that has confirmed cases then you may well be at risk. You should go to a doctor immediately if you feel any symptoms of swine flu. These being:
- Tiredness
- Loss of appetite
- Sore throat
- A cough
- Vomiting or Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Fever
- Runny Nose.

If you are feeling these symptoms, then it is very important to be checked out immediately.

If you are feeling fine then at the moment swine flu does not mean too much for you personally, it may be affecting members of your family or friends. To protect yourself you must pay lots of attention to basic hygiene; wash your hands with warm soapy water; cough and sneeze into a tissue; and clean hard surfaces on a regular basis. If the World Health Organisation, WHO, raise the alert level to 6, we are currently at 5, then it will mean closure of most places that many people come together at. Schools in Mexico and the United States have already been closing.

Eating cooked pork products will not harm you. It is also worth baring in mind that face masks, as I'm sure you have seen on the news, are not very effective. Swine flu can only be treated with antiviral medication, such as tamiflu. It should not be taken without a prescription.

On the "BBC News At 10" on the 29th April 2009, 2 predictions of outcomes were questioned. The 1st is a grim prediction, that 2 million people around the world will die. This could happen, don't panic! However, another theory suggests that the strain will die out over summer before emerging stronger in winter. The hope is at that time we are better prepared for an outbreak.

This blog will be updated again tomorrow, 2nd May 2009, with the latest news, if you can't wait until then, please feel free to visit: www.bbc.co.uk/news it is always good at supplying the latest information. If you have any concerns or worries, or if you just want to correct or contact me, then you can email me @.. stuart_wright1@hotmail.co.uk

Stuart Wright
Swine Flu Daily