User:Ifectious disease

'''Swine flu is an infectious disease which is caused by H1N1 virus. ''' == '

Symptoms'
The following symptoms may be due to pandemic H1N1 flu. They may also be due to other conditions.

Fever and chills Sore throat Cough Severe muscle aches Severe fatigue Headache Runny nose, nasal congestion Sneezing Watery eyes Gastrointestinal symptoms (eg, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting)

Call your doctor (or as advised by local public health officials) if both of the following apply to you: 1. You have a fever of 100°F (37.8°C) or higher and any of the following: 2. Stuffy nose (makes it hard for you to breathe through your nose) Runny nose (you are wiping your nose often) Cough Sore throat You have been exposed to the pandemic H1N1 flu by: Being within six feet of someone known or suspected to have the pandemic H1N1 flu, or Living or having traveled to a place where there have been confirmed cases of the pandemic H1N1 flu

''If the pandemic H1N1 flu becomes severe, it can cause pneumonia. Deaths have occurred, but this has been rare. The pandemic H1N1 flu can also worsen medical conditions you may already have.''

Preventive Measures
Various countries have adopted some form of preventative measures. These include school closures, [[Media:issuing advice on how to prevent the spread of swine flu]] and impending vaccination programmes.

Is it important to get a flu shot?

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends the flu vaccine as the first and most important step to take in preventing flu infection, both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 varieties. Seasonal immunizations are currently available throughout the United States. A nasal H1N1 vaccine is expected in early October 2009.

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'How common is H1N1?'
Swine Flu Vaccines Are they not promoting new companies with new vaccinations to sell their products by using the therm "swine flu"? [http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS129147+22-Jul-2009+PRN20090722 Vaxine Wins Line Honours With World's First Human Swine Flu Vaccine) The CDC also tracks cases reported in the US and displays these both numerically and in a "FluView" map.



What measures should be taken in school to prevent the spread of H1N1?
Prevention measures in Mexican schools

Familiar filter. Parents are requested not to send ill children to school School filter. Before the start of school students are asked the following question s 1.	Do you have fever? 2.	Do you have a head ache? 3.	Do you have pain in muscles and or joints? 4.	Have you been coughing or sneezing? 5.	Do you have a blocked nose and or catarh? 6.	Do you have a sore throat?

Students and staff are encouraged to employ basic hygiene methods. Such as hand washing, sneezing into the elbow, not hugging and kissing etc.

Surfaces in classrooms should be disinfected regularly

If students have any of these symptoms they are isolated from the rest of the children and if possible sent home. Children with symptoms must have at least 24 hours without symptoms before being allowed back into school.

If more than one confirmed case of H1N1 is found in the same school within a period of 7 days, the school may be closed. Classes may be suspended for 7 days if the deemed necessary by the Health authorities.

H1N1 in Mexico.
Currently Mexico is under an intermediate state of alert, or yellow phase. This is based on the increase in numbers of confirmed cases and deaths in recent weeks The official numbers for 29th September 2009, published by the Mexican Ministry of Health, are:  29,417 cases and 226 deaths due to H1N1. The age bracket in which most cases have been confirmed is between 10 and 19 years.

H1N1 worldwide
According to the WHO as of 20 September 2009, there have been more than 300,000 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1, 3917 deaths, in 191 countries and territories.

Use of antiviral drugs against influenza A(H1N1)
So far most people who have contracted the new A (H1N1) virus have experienced influenza-like symptoms (such as sore throat, cough, runny nose, fever, malaise, headache, joint/muscle pain) and recovered without antiviral treatment.

Antiviral drugs may reduce the symptoms and duration of illness, just as they do for seasonal influenza. They also may contribute to preventing severe disease and death. Influenza A (H1N1) is a new virus and only a small number of people with the infection have been treated for it with antiviral drugs. WHO is in touch with public health authorities and clinicians in affected countries and is gathering information about how effective the drugs are.

To which antiviral drugs does this influenza virus respond?

There are two classes of antiviral drugs for influenza: inhibitors of neuraminidase such as oseltamivir and zanamivir; and adamantanes, such as amantadine and rimantadine. Tests on viruses obtained from patients in Mexico and the United States have indicated that current new H1N1 viruses are sensitive to neuraminidase inhibitors, but that the viruses are resistant to the other class, the adamantanes.

Resistance can develop to antiviral drugs used for influenza. Therefore, WHO and its partners are monitoring antiviral drug resistance.

Antiviral drugs are to be used according to national pandemic influenza preparedness plans. Public health authorities in some countries have decided to treat patients likely to have this disease as a part of public health measures.

Where antiviral drugs are available for treatment, clinicians should make decisions based on assessment of the individual patient's risk. Risks versus benefits should also be evaluated on a case by case basis.

You should only take an antiviral, such as oseltamivir or zanamivir, if your health care provider advises you to do so. Individuals should not buy medicines to prevent or fight this new influenza without a prescription, and they should exercise caution in buying antivirals over the internet.

WHO’s first priority is to provide an emergency stock of antiviral drugs to countries that have no or insufficient stock of the drugs and lack the capacity to procure these drugs themselves.

WHO is also working with Member States, donors and other groups that have stockpiles and are willing to share these with WHO for distribution to countries in need.

WHO had a global stockpile of approximately 5 million adult treatment courses of oseltamivir. Part of this stockpile has already been distributed through the WHO Regional Offices, which are handling allocation and distribution. WHO is currently distributing the remaining 3 million adult treatment courses of this stockpile to developing countries in need.

WHO continues to assess needs and to work with manufacturers to secure more donations of antivirals. More antiviral drugs will be distributed once these donations are received.

WHO has arranged the first deployment of antiviral drugs from the WHO stockpile to 72 countries. Priority was given to vulnerable countries, taking into consideration national manufacturing and procurement capacity. As necessary, other countries will be supported through regional office stockpiles.

WHO is in discussion with manufacturers regarding the potential need for scaling up production. It is WHO’s understanding that manufacturers have plans for producing large numbers of treatments quickly.