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Monday, August 11, 2025

Swine flu: What you need to know

by

20131003

Some peo­ple have been us­ing the terms swine flu and bird flu in­ter­change­ably. But they are not the same. Here are the dif­fer­ences:

First off, in­fluen­za is a virus that in­fects peo­ple, birds, pigs and oth­er an­i­mals.

�2Ori­gin:

Swine flu: pigs, oc­ca­sion­al­ly trans­mit­ted to hog farm work­ers and vet­eri­nar­i­ans

Bird flu: al­so known as avian flu, is car­ried by birds- par­tic­u­lar­ly poul­try

�2Speed and dead­li­ness:

Swine flu: spreads fast, less dead­ly

Bird flu: spreads very slow­ly, much high­er death rate

�2Spread:

Swine flu: Hu­man-to-hu­man trans­mis­sion, via cough droplets and un­sani­tised sur­faces

Bird flu: In ex­treme­ly rare cas­es spreads be­tween peo­ple, but most­ly from di­rect bird-to-hu­man ex­po­sure.

�2Where it af­fects your body:

Swine flu: af­fects res­pi­ra­to­ry sys­tem

Bird flu: at­tacks all sys­tems in hu­man body

Points to re­mem­ber about swine flu:

-It is a con­ta­gious virus that is spread from per­son to per­son by droplets re­leased in­to the air when an ill per­son coughs or sneezes.

-A per­son can be­come in­fect­ed when those droplets are in­haled di­rect­ly, or by touch­ing con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed sur­faces, like door han­dles, faucets, tele­phones and then touch­ing the mouth, eyes or nose.

-This is why it is im­por­tant to wash hands with soap and wa­ter for at least 20 sec­onds af­ter con­tact with shared sur­faces,de­vices, or uten­sils and af­ter cough­ing or sneez­ing.

-The virus can sur­vive on hard sur­faces for up to 24 hours.

-Peo­ple with the virus may be con­ta­gious from one day be­fore they de­vel­op symp­toms, and up to sev­en days af­ter they get sick.

-Younger chil­dren may be po­ten­tial­ly con­ta­gious for up to ten days.

Oth­er ways to pre­vent the spread and pro­tect your­self:

-Cov­er your nose and mouth with a tis­sue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tis­sue in a trash bin af­ter use, and wash your hands prop­er­ly with soap and wa­ter.

-If you do not have tis­sue, sneeze in your sleeve or el­bow. This blocks or lim­its the spread of droplets.

-Wash your hands of­ten with soap and wa­ter, es­pe­cial­ly af­ter you cough or sneeze.

-Use of al­co­hol-based hand san­i­tiz­er is al­so ef­fec­tive.

-Avoid touch­ing your eyes, nose, or mouth as germs en­ter the body this way.

-Avoid con­tact with peo­ple who have flu-like ill­ness (keep at least six feet away).

-Avoid rags, ker­chiefs and shared hand tow­els.


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