Released April 26, 2009
DURHAM, N.H. -- On Sunday, April 26, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared a public health emergency in response to an outbreak of a novel strain of influenza.
The disease has sickened residents in at least five states and hundreds in Mexico, where it has killed scores of people. All of the U.S. victims to date have recovered.
A new strain of flu
Public health experts say this new strain of influenza contains genetic material from swine, avian, and human strains of influenza. The virus spreads by human-to-human contact.
Unlike the seasonal influenza strains that have been circulating among humans for decades or even centuries, human populations haven't developed immunity to the new virus.
Because of the prevalence and speed of global travel and because people become contagious with influenza before they begin to feel sick, most public health officials say they can't stop or contain the outbreak, only keep people informed about the disease and the steps they can take to protect themselves to help slow its progress. The World Health Organization is surveying the situation around the clock in Geneva.
Public health officials don't yet know
- How or when it started.
- How rapidly and far it might spread.
- How dangerous it might become.
- Why some cases are so mild and others so deadly.
- How long the outbreak might last.
Public health officials do know
- You can't catch swine flu from eating pork or pork products. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. Eating properly handled and properly cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.
- The flu shot you got last winter won't protect against this strain of influenza. There's no preventive vaccine for this new strain of flu and won't be for at least several months, although anti-viral drugs may help victims recover.
- This new strain of influenza isn't the H5N1 strain of avian influenza ("bird flu") that has become endemic in wild and domestic birds throughout Southeast Asia and which has sickened more than 400 and killed more than 250 humans since the WHO began reporting in 2003.
CDC officials say they expect more cases to emerge with wider surveillance. They urge people to take simple precautions, including staying home from work if you feel sick and keeping sick children home from school.
For more information
CDC's swine flu information pages Continuously updated information on numbers of confirmed cases and other facts about the current outbreak, http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/index.htm
CDC's official health advisory, http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/pdf/HAN_042509.pdf
CDC's simple things you can do to protect yourself and your family, http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/habits.htm?s_cid=swineFlu_outbreak_003
Pandemic Information Official U.S. Government Information, http://www.pandemicflu.gov/
Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy The Pandemic Influenza pages of this University of Minnesota center stay current on latest news of risks of pandemic influenza outbreaks, http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/
Swine flu map Continuously updated map of confirmed and suspected cases of swine flu, http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5
Seasonal flu vs pandemic flu Learn the differences, http://www.pandemicflu.gov/season_or_pandemic.html
Influenza Science Part I, Influenza Science Part II A primer for those who want to know more about influenza. http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Science.InfluenzaPrimerI
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Science.InfluenzaPrimerII
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http://extension.unh.edu/news/2009/04/inform_yourself_about_swine_fl.html
