H1N1 influenza A is also commonly known as the swine flu. The swine flu is believed to have originated in Mexico and then quickly started spreading. The swine flu is a dangerous type of flu because it is a new strain. The swine flu is thought to be a combination of bird flu, swine flu and human flu. This particular strain of flu has the potential be become an epidemic in 2009 because people have never before been exposed to it and therefore don’t have any immunity built up against it.

This lack of immunity within the population is what has the makings of a possible epidemic or pandemic in 2009. An epidemic is when a higher than expected number of people contract seasonal flu in a specific area or part of the country. A pandemic is a global outbreak that is most often the result of a new strain of influenza. There have been many pandemics throughout history. The Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 killed somewhere between 20 and 40 million people worldwide and is the most deadly pandemic in recent history.

Swine flu has already become global making a pandemic a real possibility. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) provides global health leadership over the U.N. The WHO has a system in place for assessing the level of an influenza outbreak. This system has 6 phases of preparedness that rate the current level of influenza outbreak globally. The final level, phase 6, is the highest level of preparedness meaning the influenza has become a pandemic.

The CDC and WHO have been preparing for epidemics and pandemics for decades. Preparing for influenza outbreaks includes putting procedures in place that are used to get ready in case a flu outbreak occurs. The United States is extremely well prepared and ready to handle a flu outbreak. Preparations include educating local, regional and state resources in how to handle a flu epidemic or pandemic.

It is important that the public be aware of the ways that they can avoid getting and spreading the swine flu. Public awareness and participation will help to keep the disease under control. With today’s Internet, television and radio broadcasts the information about swine flu (H1N1) can be widely distributed to a major portion of the population. This helps to keep everyone aware of what they can do to help protect themselves and their families from getting the swine flu.

There is currently no preventative inoculation for this new strain of H1N1 influenza A; however, work is being done right now to come up with one. The current method of treatment for swine flu is to take Tamiflu, a prescription medication that is designed to help reduce the severity of the symptoms. Swine flu is not dangerous for most people who get it. The swine flu can lead to severe complications in those with lowered immune systems. Most often, however, swine flu does not require hospitalization and the patient can recover at home in a few days to a week.

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When the Swine Flu popped onto the radar screen this winter, I happened to have one of the best front row seats to the scare. This is because I am an American who has been living in Mazatlan, Mexico for the past three years and whole experience left me with some valuable information that I can share with you. You see, for about a month or so, people in general were convinced that a serious pandemic was underway. The result is that I was able to see how they responded and the measures that they took.

You Definitely Won’t Be Alone In Your Concerns

Perhaps you have questioned the actual effectiveness of simple things like medical whips in the overall scheme of things in a “genuine flu epidemic”. Hey! Germs are everywhere, so what can some small wipes do? What you will find is that you definitely won’t be alone in your concerns and that far more effective preventative measures will be deployed all around you.

All the Little Places That You Will Come Across

People wearing face masks in stores and public places, antiseptic gel dispensers at the entrances to buildings, door knobs being disinfected hourly and business employees having their temperatures taken as they arrive for their shifts. So medical wipes function is to fill in all the many smaller, yet very crucial “gaps” in between – for instance after handling a gas pump, a grocery cart or the keys on the ATM etc.

Your Final Defensive Barrier To the Bug

Don’t worry. What you’ll find is that everyone else will be doing the best that they can to prevent the spread of the bug but there is only so much ground that can be feasibly covered and still be able to function throughout the day. Remember that this bug is primarily spread by touching something that it’s on, then touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Hence; medical wipes are your final defensive barrier along with a face mask.

Don’t Be Surprised If You Find Empty Store & Pharmacy Shelves

The deal is thought that you have to buy the wipes, your face masks and rubber gloves now. Don’t listen to the government figures that show that they have enough for everyone because what I found in Mexico is that the first people who rush to the stores buy them all up. You see, if you wait until the flu hits, you may end up like me – able to find face masks, and alcohol but unable to find rubber gloves, medical wipes and Tamiflu.

You’ll Be One Among Many – All Doing the Same Thing

Those items were simply gone! You also may have some consternation about running around in public with a face mask and rubber gloves on. Wiping everything down with medical wipes before you touch them. Won’t people point and stare at you? Not to worry! You’ll be one amongst many, all doing the same thing and you’ll also notice that people only communicate when they have to and move much quicker to get their business done.

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The bird flu virus undergoes constant changes as it mutates genetically. This makes identification of one particular virus type as the culprit absolutely impossible. For the same reason any pharmaceutical preparation targeting one particular type of virus would be useless in case flu is caused by a changed virus derived from the old known one.

WHO leads a Global Influenza Surveillance Network with 110 influenza centers in 83 countries and four WHO Collaborating Centers. Representative samples of patients having bird flu like symptoms are collected and investigated for bird flu viruses. The latest strains circulating across the world are identified and recommendations are made about the flu vaccine’s composition. This is done in February and September every year.

After the WHO gives guidelines for the strains to be put into the vaccine from the selection of the strains to be used in the vaccine, all the way to the final vaccine, is a lengthy process that may take up to 6-8 months. Production of the new vaccine strain starts immediately after the WHO announces the strains. The strains then undergo quality testing. Then only all the three different strains, two influenza A and one influenza B strain, are mixed into a single vaccine. It is now that the vaccine is packaged and shipped for sale and administration.

The bird flu vaccine has its own side effects too. Usually the injection site shows some redness and swelling; fever, vomiting, headache, sore throat and minute physical discomforts are also noticed in about 5% of the cases.

Currently the total production capacity of the world is about 300 million influenza vaccines per year. And the world population is about 6.5 billion! So it is quite apparent that in the case of a pandemic not everyone can be vaccinated unless we either stockpile vaccine or produce it at war footing; the former being not possible since the composition of vaccine keeps changing every year and would not be possible in the near future. For these reasons if a pandemic occurs, then for a few starting months we won’t have bird flu vaccines at our disposal and our only saving grace would be non-medicinal measures.

Even for the amount of vaccine that is available, it would need the world’s healthcare system to have a well defined distribution plan and an extremely reliable supply chain system, in order to cope with demands. Such level of distribution and administration of the vaccines is simply not feasible today.

It is clear by now that the stock of vaccines produced every year gets wasted if the flu virus changes, which it does from year to year. But still these drugs are manufactured so as to test and demonstrate the technological capability of the system which is in place. WHO reports that the usage of antiviral drugs and vaccination are the most effective measures against a bird flu threat. But then again it is quite evident that only the vaccination cannot help the 6.5 billion population of earth. It is just one of the desperate measures we can rely upon. Alongside we will have to keep upgrading public knowledge about the preventive measures, keep taking all the precautions to curtail the spread of influenza and keep researching for better ways to fight the virus.

Bird flu comes from South Asia and threatens to spread all over the world. Nowadays there is hardly a person who is not aware of expansion of the deadly disease, but still most of us do nothing in terms of protection, as we hope the virus won’t reach us. Even if the danger is overestimated, at least your conscience will be clear, as you’ve done the due diligence. It is not so difficult to take some preventive measures, because if the disaster occurs it will be too late.

What to Start With?

As the incubation period of this disease is equal to 3-5 days, you will have not much time to think over your auctions, and that is in case you KNOW you have been infected. So, it is necessary to think of possible ways of bird flu survival beforehand.

The vaccine against bird flu has not been developed yet, for it needs some time to study the virus mutation in human body. But there are some prototypes which contain substances that may defend you from the disease. So, first of all, it is necessary to find an opportunity to take vaccine.

The second step to increase your survival rate is to buy enough quantity of Tamiflu. That is an antiviral drug that fights H5N1 strain effectively. If you are infected, you will have to take a double dose, and for prophylaxis a single dose a day is enough. Therefore you should get enough quantity of Tamiflu, for, in case of pandemic, it will be impossible to find this medicine at any price.

Finally, it is obvious you should not travel to the countries where bird flu is raging.

What Should I Do to survive if it Reaches Me?

In order to foresee the approaching of the disease it is necessary to keep informed. As soon as you learn from mass media that bird flu is drawing near, you should supply yourself with food and water that will be necessary for the next 3-4 months. It is also recommended to leave the city for a country house, because in case of anarchy connected with the pandemic you will feel safer out of town.

Another thing you should do for bird flu survival is washing your hands thoroughly and wearing masks if contact with infected people is unavoidable. As any other influenza virus, bird flu gets the human organism through dirty hands contacting with mouth, eyes and nose.

If you have any children you should keep them indoors and prepare them for home schooling. In the event of any member of your family still has been infected, you need to prepare a quarantine room. It should be a remote room, supplied with all the necessary: water, food, medicine and entertainment.

You should always remember that we may wish for the best, but we must be prepared for the worst. Nowadays lots of books, newspaper and magazine articles devoted to bird flu survival are available. Besides that, you can look for the information on bird flu survival on the Internet.

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Tamiflu, whose common scientific name is oseltamivir, is part of a family of flu fighting medicines called neuraminidase inhibitors. Tamilflu is used in the treatment of infections caused by both the influenza A and influenza B viruses. Tamiflu, which requires a prescription, can be used both to treat the flu if taken soon after symptoms appear, or to prevent the flu.

The difference between Tamiflu and a vaccine is that Tamiflu helps your immune system be in a position to fight off the advance of the viral infection, whereas a vaccine is just a straight injection of dead influenza that causes your immune system to produce antibodies to fight off the virus itself.

Tamiflu demand has skyrocketed over the past year for several reasons. There was a shortage of available flu vaccine during flu season 2005, with in some cases only enough for senior citizens or those with more vulnerable immune conditions being able to get vaccinated.

Also, the U.S. government was concerned that an outbreak of bird flu in the United States could leave the U.S. short on flu vaccines, causing them to hold back supplies just in case of an outbreak. However, the bird flu is different form human influenza.

Bird Flu is much harder to transmit than human influenza, requiring very close physical contact to spread the disease. Bird flu has been observed in countries where humans and animals are in close contact. There have been roughly 70 deaths worldwide and approximately 130 infections since 2005.

It is possible that bird flu will infect someone who is already carrying the human influenza strain, and that the two viruses will swap genetic material, causing the bird flu to spread like a deadlier version of human influenza. A highly virulent straight of bird flu could create a pandemic for the world, as did the Spanish Flu virus of the early 1900’s that killed 20 to 50 million people worldwide.

The bird flu is associated with the influenza A strain H5N1 flu virus. Although not the same as the Spanish flu virus, the current avian flu strain does share many similarities with the Spanish flu strain. Initial studies have shown that Tamiflu may be effective in helping to fight the effects of this flu virus if the medication is taken very early after flu symptoms appear. As a result, the demand for Tamiflu has skyrocketed.

A Swiss drug maker, F. Hoffman La-Roche Ltd., currently has a tight hold on the manufacturing of Tamiflu. Biolyse Pharma Corp., when turned down in its bid to try to enter the Tamiflu marketplace, had decided as of December of 2005 to attempt to mass produce several tons of shikimic acid, which is the main ingredient in Tamiflu, from the needles of discarded Christmas trees, as well as other pine, fir, and spruce trees. Such trees are the main source of shikimic acid.

Oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, is one of several medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment and prevention of influenza. Flu shots are still the best way to prevent someone from developing the flu, but as of right now there is no known vaccine for the bird flu. The CDC has announced that development of a vaccine has begun.

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