Pork Flu – What is Pork Flu and How to Prevent it?

Swine flu (pork flu, pig flu, hog flu) is not a laughing matter and it definitely means influenza. Pork flu is caused by strains of flu virus in endemic swines and the worst thing about it is, nobody is insulated against it.

It is wrong to assume that Swine flu has some kind of connection with population control the Hispanics, Blacks, Whites or Asians use everyday in the US. Going by what the medical professionals say, everyone is prone to get that darned thing but it always sucks the life out of you although most of you will be fine depending on how fast and what kind of medical attention you get.

How is pork flu caused first?
Swines permanently have strains of endemic influenza A and influenza C virus and this is predominant in Mexico, United States, Canada, South America, Europe (mainly in UK, Italy and Sweden), Kenya in Africa and Eastern Asian countries like China, Taiwan and Japan.

Swine flu is contracted to those who are in intense exposure to pork that have presence of swine influenza virus capable of infecting humans. However, these viruses are hardly known to manifest themselves into a capability of spreading from man to man.

How to tell you have pork flu?
All the normal symptoms of influenza and other similar symptoms like fever, running nose, cough, sore throat, muscular pains, headache, shivers and fatigue are what characterize swine flu. The recent outbreak has seen patients complaining diarrhea and vomiting also.

If you are wondering as to how can this be dangerously fatal, it problem lies in the misleading similarities pork flu has with common flu. Unless a differential diagnosis for probable swine flu which includes checking for acute febrile respiratory illness and whether the patient was in extended contact with those that had it. In addition, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) require patients to be checked whether they were in one of the infected areas in the past week.

How Can I Prevent Pork Flu Infection
As an individual, use of face mask and getting vaccinated is essential, particularly if you are a farmer or a veterinarian working in poultries or swine farms. But for all others, it is important that they take the standard flue vaccine first and practice strict hygiene, washing hands at every occasion with some kind of alcohol based sanitizer. Since pork flu spreads through sneezing, coughing in humans, you can keep distance from infected persons or use face masks when it is necessary to meet them.

It is disheartening to know why pork flu is so dangerous. The virus has the ability to transfer through fingers to the nose, eyes or mouth; remember small droplets, infected with SIV, can stay alive for long on hand rests of chairs, telephones and any other place.