Swine Flu Serious Symptoms

Swine Flu Serious Symptoms

Dr Keiji Fukuda, the Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the press conference on July 7 2009 presented the latest reported figures from 137 countries, territories, and areas reporting confirmed laboratory cases as over 98,000, with over 440 deaths.

He stated that the swine flu pandemic continues to evolve quite rapidly with over 3,000 confirmed cases daily. In the Southern Hemisphere where they are in the winter months and entering their regular influenza season, they may see a pattern which is different from what is being seen in the Northern Hemisphere such as the United States and the UK.

Swine flu today"

Dr Fukuda stated that the Southern Hemisphere is seeing the same activity as in other countries. For example, Australia was reporting heavy swine flu activity in the Victoria area, whereas it was at lower levels in other parts of Australia for a while and is now picking up again.

Colds and flu share the same symptoms. However, the two viral infections are very different. The flu viral disease is a respiratory infection and usually occurs once a year or every few years, whereas most people catch a cold several times in a year.

In adults the serious symptoms of swine flu include:

* A fever over 100F and typically up to 105F.
* A hacking cough.
* Shortness of breath, wheezing and difficult breathing.
* Chest pain caused by persistent coughing.
* Confusion and dizziness.
* Muscle aches.
* Sore throat.
* Flu symptoms improve and then return with a high fever and a worse cough.

In children the serious signals include:

* Wheezing and difficulty in breathing with a hacking cough.
* Severe vomiting.
* A pasty complexion.
* Not drinking sufficient fluids.
* The flu symptoms improve as in the adult and the return with a high fever.

These are all warning signs to seek urgent medical attention without delay, certainly within two days, when Tamiflu is at its most effective.

The most common method for diagnosing the swine flu virus is an antigen test, which is carried out from swabs taken from the nose and throat for testing at the laboratory. If pneumonia is suspect then a chest X-ray will result.

The real scale of this health crisis is difficult to quantify, as constant random mutation is the name of the game for these bugs.

They have been around since the beginning of time and have developed their own ways of survival in their microbial world. It will not be long before they will survive our current chemical remedies for swine flu and even bird flu.

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