Swine influenza

Swine influenza (also swine flu) refers to influenza caused by any virus of the family Orthomyxoviridae, that is endemic to pig (swine) populations. Strains endemic in swine are called swine influenza virus (SIV), and all known strains of SIV are classified as Influenzavirus A (common) or Influenzavirus C (rare). Influenzavirus B has not been reported in swine. All three clades, Influenzavirus A, B, and C, are endemic in humans.
People who work with poultry and swine, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of infection from these animals if the animals carry a strain that is also able to infect humans. SIV can mutate into a form that allows it to pass from human to human. The strain responsible for the 2009 swine flu outbreak is believed to have undergone this mutation.
In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general.

Excerpt From: Swine influenza

WHO calls swine flu a 'public health emergency'

Below are CTV.Ca about Swine Flue and their cases. How to address the disease by knowing the symptoms of this deathly swine influenza. There are many cases out there around US, Mexico, and there are emergency declaration in some city.
Here are the video link on this swine flu


Symptoms Of Swine Flu
Global Swine Flu Cases Close to Pandemic Levels
The Doctor Is In: Info on Swine Flu
Swine Flu Strain Found In NYC Kansas Ohio UK. Quanrantines

Here are the news from CTV as promised above

CTV.ca News Staff

The World Health Organization is calling the swine flu outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" and its asking countries to ramp up surveillance for the virus.

But the organization decided Saturday to hold off on raising the global pandemic alert level, even as more cases are being reported in Mexico, and the United States.

Gregory Hartl, a spokesperson for the WHO, said Saturday the threat level will stay at its current Phase 3 until the organization gets a clearer picture at what is going on. Phase 6 would mean officials are calling the outbreak a pandemic.

Countries around are being asked by the WHO to step up their reporting and surveillance of the disease. WHO fears the outbreak could spread from Mexico and the United States.

Mexico officials are closing schools in the capital and two other states for the next 10 days as the country tries to slow the spread of a deadly swine flu outbreak.

Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova told a news conference Saturday evening that 20 deaths have been confirmed to be from the swine flu outbreak and another 1,324 have likely been sick from the virus since April 13.

He added that the virus may have killed at least 81 people in Mexico, but not all the deaths have been confirmed to be from the virus, known as A H1N1.

The strain has not been previously diagnosed in either pigs or humans and appears to spread easily from human to human.

On Saturday evening, New York City health officials said that eight high school students in the city have likely contacted the virus after visiting Mexico. The results of tests won't be known until Sunday.

Kansas state officials confirmed two cases there Saturday, in addition to seven cases in California and two in Texas.

The head of the WHO, Margaret Chan, said at a news conference earlier on Saturday that the WHO has not received reports of swine flu beyond Mexico and the southwestern United States, but urged all countries to be vigilant for an increase in pneumonia cases or other flu-like illness.

"The viruses causing cases in some parts of Mexico and some parts of the USA are genetically the same," she said, adding the virus "has pandemic potential" because it is spreading between people.

Quarantine in Montreal

Meanwhile, doctors in Montreal placed a woman in quarantine, but released her later when it became clear she did have the virus.

The woman, Patricia Whelan, vacationed in Mexico two weeks ago. Another Canadian was also placed in isolation, but has since been released.

Doctors "have no reason to believe it's swine flu, but they're taking absolutely no chances. It's precautionary," said CTV Montreal's Rob Lurie.

Monica Whelan, the daughter of the woman who was in quarantine, said her family was surprised to learn her mother was so sick.

"My mother never catches a cold, and she's always very strong," she said.

"She still felt very ill after having been on antibiotics. It's been a month since she's been home and her symptoms have not gone away," said Whelan.

Mexican cases

According to Chan, Mexican authorities are reporting that cases range from the very mild to severe, which means it is difficult to tell how widespread the virus really is.

"We need to really comb through those data and get the granularities and understand exactly who is suffering and which (age) group has disease more severe than others," Chan said.

The virus is unusual in that it is primarily affecting healthy young adults. Influenza usually affects the very young and the very old.

Unlike recent bird flu cases, where people who became ill had contact with infected birds, it appears that this strain of swine flu is infecting people with no history of contact with animals, according to Canadian infectious disease specialist Dr. Neil Rau.

"What is concerning is that even though it has the word swine flu, meaning it originates from pigs, people who get this infection have no history of contact with pigs," Rau said Saturday during an interview on CTV Newsnet.

Mexican authorities have closed schools, museums, libraries and theatres in an attempt to prevent the virus's spread, while officials at the Mexico City airport are questioning travellers in an effort to prevent a sick passenger from boarding a plane.

On Saturday, Mexico City's mayor cancelled all public events for the next 10 days in order to control the outbreak.

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard also announced that the city has enough medicine to treat those who are infected.

The Mexican government plans to administer 500,000 doses of influenza vaccine to health care workers, who are at high risk of infection.

However, it is unclear if this year's influenza vaccine offers protection against the swine flu.

The WHO said that 12 of the Mexican cases have been linked genetically to a swine flu virus that has appeared in California.

In Canada, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Friday that so far, the virus has not been detected in Canada.

According to Rau, the current outbreak has not been linked to resort areas frequented by Canadian tourists.

However, public health officials are probing a small number of flu-like cases in Canada to determine if they match the Mexican illness.

Experts say the best protection against the virus is to avoid contact with anyone who is coughing or sneezing, wash hands regularly and see a doctor if any of these symptoms become apparent:

fever
cough
sore throat
eye pain
shortness of breath
muscle and joint pain
extreme fatigue
With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press

Butter Battle

The artificial butter flavoring used in microwave popcorn poses a danger of lung damage to ordinary consumers.

The email that follows is from my sister-in-law Ellen who is an attorney working on cases involving microwave popcorn and lung disease. This isn't a hoax. Please send it to people who need to know. Here comes her email.

As I may or may not have told you guys, I'm working on a case involving microwave popcorn manufacturing plant employees who have contracted a bad lung disease that causes scarring of the lungs, sometimes requiring transplant. The suspected culprit is a chemical in the fake butter flavoring (which is also used in other types of flavoring, such as caramel). The FDA has stated numerous times that there is no evidence of any danger to consumers from eating products containing the fake butter flavoring, as the danger appears to be in inhaling the fumes from the product when it is superheated during the manufacturing process. Accordingly, such products remain on the shelves.

However, the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver just sent a letter to the FDA detailing what the hospital alleges is a landmark diagnosis of a consumer who has contracted lung disease as the result of cooking and consuming large amounts of microwave popcorn that contains diacetyl.

I haven't touched this stuff since my case began in 2000, as I always suspected something like this would happen (particularly since microwave popcorn makes the butter flavoring hot enough to emit fumes). Anyway, DON'T eat this stuff!!!!!

Origins: It should come as no surprise to most consumers that many of the flavors found in modern packaged food products are created through the use of chemical flavorings. One example of such is

diacetyl, a chemical used in artificial butter flavoring which is commonly found in microwave popcorn. Studies have linked diacetyl with the development of the lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans (a widespread inflammatory and fibrotic obstruction of the small airways) in industrial flavor workers who experience signficant inhalation exposure to the chemical, and various health advocates have pointed to those studies as a reason to call for more stringent governmental regulation over (or an outright ban on) the use of diacetyl.

The question on many people's minds, then, is if the link between diacetyl inhalation and bronchiolitis obliterans (also known as BO, or "popcorn lung") in industrial workers is indeed causal, does diacetyl pose a danger to consumers with much lower levels of exposure to diacetyl than factory workers, consumers who merely breathe in fumes produced during the heating of artificially butter-flavored microwave popcorn products? This issue gained prominent public attention in September 2007 via the publication of a letter sent to federal agencies by Dr. Cecile Rose, a pulmonary specialist at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center, saying that doctors at the center believed they had encountered the first case of a consumer's developing lung disease from the fumes of microwave popcorn.

Whether this disclosure demonstrates that microwave popcorn poses a signifcant health risk to ordinary consumers is not so cut-and-dried, though. As Dr. Rose noted, "This is not a definitive causal link" and "We cannot be sure that this patient's exposure to butter flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease" (although she also noted that doctors had "no other plausible explanation" for the patient's symptoms and that the issue "raises a lot of questions and supports the recommendation that more work needs to be done"). Additionally, this case might represent far more of an extreme than a norm, as the patient involved "did report daily consumption of several bags of extra butter flavored microwave popcorn for several years" (at least two bags per day for more than 10 years) and "when he broke open the bags, after the steam came out, he would often inhale the fragrance because he liked it so much."

Shortly after the publication of Dr. Rose's letter, the producers of four of the biggest-selling microwave popcorn brands in the U.S. (Orville Redenbacher, Act II, Pop Secret, and Jolly Time) announced that they were working to remove diacetyl from their microwave popcorn recipes (while nonetheless reassuring consumers about the safety of their products).


Source: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/popcorn.asp