Symptoms Of Swine Flu?

Swine flu has affected thousands around the world - 29 people in the UK have died after contracting it and there are predictions that the worst is still to come.

Test kits for swine flu

Symptoms of the H1N1 virus are similar to those of seasonal flu. Sufferers will usually have a fever (temperature above 38C or 100.4F), sudden cough and some or all of the following:

• sore throat
• headache
• runny nose
• sneezing
• muscle ache
• vomiting
• diarrhoea or upset stomach
• tiredness
• chills
• loss of appetite

Do you think you have symptoms of swine flu?

Some areas in the UK have been identified as having sustained person to person spread.
These areas are Greater Glasgow, Birmingham and London.
The vast majority of cases reported so far in this country have been mild.
Most people who have contracted swine flu recover within a week and do not suffer complications, even without being given antiviral medication.
Only a small number have led to serious illness, and these have mainly been where patients have had underlying health problems.
The Government have decided to offer the antiviral, Tamiflu, to everyone with swine flu, at their doctor's discretion.

High-risk groups
People with:

• chronic lung disease
• chronic heart disease
• chronic kidney disease
• chronic liver disease
• chronic neurological disease (neurological disorders include motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease)
• immunosuppression (whether caused by disease or treatment) and diabetes mellitus, patients who have had drug treatment for asthma within the past three years
• pregnant women
• people aged 65 years and older
• young children under five years old.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham has confirmed a formal move from a "containment phase" to a "treatment phase" for swine flu.
This means that school closures will no longer be automatic, and cases will be confirmed by doctors rather than through lab testing.
The National Pandemic Flu Service will also be put into place by the end of next week.

6000 could die with Swine flu

A "worst case scenario" could see around 6,000 people die from swine flu across the country this season, Health Minister Nicola Roxon says.

Over 10,000 Australians have contracted the virus, 22 have died and almost 60 are in intensive care.
There were predictions yesterday that between 10,000 and 20,000 people could die from swine flu, but the Health Minister was quick to dismiss those numbers as "ludicrous".
Ms Roxon has told Radio National that projections show that if no action was taken against the disease, such as use of a vaccine and anti-virals, around 6,000 deaths would be expected.
"The 6,000 figure was agreed between all jurisdictions and advising health professionals," she said.
Yesterday infectious diseases expert Professor Raina MacIntyre, who is part of the influenza advisory group to Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop, said there could be up to 20,000 deaths from the disease.
But Ms Roxon says this is not correct.
"That simply is not based on the current information that we have about this particular disease," she said.
On average there are around 1,000 flu deaths in Australia each season.
On Tuesday Professor Jim Bishop said swine flu cases were expected to peak in August.
Pharmaceutical CSL will begin human tests next week of a vaccine it has developed after which it is expected over 20 million doses will be distributed in October.
In the UK it is likely a vaccine will be available in around a month but Ms Roxon says this is because they are not conducting human tests.
"I think we should be confident that we want to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective before we distribute it to a very big chunk of the population," she said.
However, Ms Roxon said if the virus "took a turn for the worse" the Government would consider fast-tracking the vaccine if appropriate advice was given.
She also said treating those with swine flu make take precedence over elective surgery as hospitals deal with the extra demand.
"It may well mean that some elective surgery or other procedures do have to be delayed for urgent attention to be provided to those who are having a severe impact from this flu," she said.

NRI family positive for Swine flu

Four members of a Non-Resident Indian family, whose swab samples were sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi, on Tuesday have tested positive for A (H1N1).
Suspected swine flu patients were quarantined in the local civil hospital on Monday, after symptoms of the H1N1 virus were noticed among them, T.P. Singh, district epidemiologist, told reporters revealing that the family belonged to the United States and had recently visited Jalandhar to meet their relatives.
Family quarantined All the four patients were kept in the Isolation Ward of the civil hospital and efforts were on to identify the persons, who came into contact with the family in the recent days and accordingly each and every identified person would be medically examined, Dr. Singh added.
He said that family recently visited other districts also and accordingly authorities concerned of such districts were being informed to undertake the identification of the persons, who came into close contact with the affected NRIs.
13 positive cases With the detection of four more H1N1-affected persons, the number of swine flu positive cases reached 13, including a couple who returned from Thailand recently and seven students, who came back from an educational trip from NASA.

Swine Flu Outbreak at Airforce Base

The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado is dealing with the state's largest outbreak of the H-1-N-1 virus, or swine flu.

The Academy says initial tests show 15 cadets with the virus.
Nearly 90 cadets have been isolated because of flu-like symptoms.
The Academy says most of the sick cadets are members of the incoming freshman class.
They began training on June 25th.
Others in the 13-hundred member class are having to wash their hands with an alcohol-based sanitizer.