Swine Flu Outbreak

I thought of AH1N1 the newest biological weapon that cruel scientists had created whose aim is to get rich by the increase demand of the vaccine. This was my opinion until I was able to converse with a friend. As our conversation flowed what I believed in turned out to be nonsense. He explained to me the factual cause of the spread of the disease. The rapid spread of the AH1N1 virus was very alarming to the public. It affected more than 100 countries all around the globe. The largest mortality rate caused by the swine flu virus was in the U.S. compared to Mexico, where the virus originated. In the Philippines we have one case of death when it had its first stop here. Some schools here in the city were closed and classes were suspended due to the positive cases of AH1N1. My son should have enjoyed a week’s long vacation. He had been put to bed rest for a couple of days because he had fever and headache. We did not go to see a doctor or let him undergo some medical test to see if he is positive with swine flu. Fortunately, he recovered before the classes resume.

I remember the movie Outbreak way back 1999. It starred Dustin Hoffman whom he tried saving the life of his ex-wife who was contaminated with the Ebola virus. I also watched the documentary of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in a friend’s house a couple of months ago before the AH1N1 pandemic occurred. Going back to me and my friend’s conversation, the Ebola (Hemorrhagic Fever) was said to be the REAL biological weapon. It is spread through direct contact and airborne. Therefore, the film has exaggerated the story where as in the real world according to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), there was no documented spread among humans as of 2007.

The AH1N1 was considered to be another SARS according to World Health Organization (WHO). The spread of the two viruses are through aerial and contact with the infected person. Base on asiaone.com, the differences between the two are: the swine infected person is contagious before symptoms appear and are at most communicable at the start of the infection while in SARS sufferers are infectious after symptoms start showing and almost all cases will develop symptoms.

The origins of these zoonotic disease outbreaks were the monkey, the cat or a bat, and the pig, respectively. When the virus spread on the human host, the body has this compensatory mechanism where in our antibodies will fight for the virus. If the virus is dominant than our antibodies it tends to destroy it and thus leaving the body more vulnerable for more infection. Sooner or later our body gives in to the virus and so death occurs. The infected person has to undergo a lot of diagnostic test and take vaccines so he can boosts his resistance to the virus. The government has extended the awareness program for the preventive measures among its subordinates and to the people.