It's not "swine flu" anymore. It's the H1N1 flu virus.

[lengel]

I heard on the news that they have renamed swine flu to its technical name H1N1 because people are slaughtering pigs. The virus is actually made up of swine, avian and human genes so it wasn't really an accurate term anyway.

Just FYI in case you're doing a search.

 

[Yotta Yotta]

It's always been H1N1. That's not a new name for it. I thought they were just calling it swine flu because that's easier to pronounce than H1N1...and easier to remember. Avian flu was H5N1. They're actually just mutant forms of the same virus, but apparently the H1N1 subtype should be the same subtype that caused the Spanish flu back in 1918.

That's weird I thought after so many years and so many possible combinations to mutate into, the virus would not the BE exact same virus that caused the Spanish flu. Does anyone know how the H_?_N_?_ naming system works?

 

[lengel]

H1N1 Viruses; Virus, H1N1; Viruses, H1N1
A subtype of INFLUENZA A VIRUS comprised of the surface proteins hemagglutinin 1 and neuraminidase 1. The H1N1 subtype was responsible for the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 and for swine flu.

Doesn't mean much to me but there you go!

I meant to say that I heard on the news that they are no longer going to refer to this strain as "swine flu" but rather as the technical term "H1N1".

 

[shelleyd2008]

I am right now watching the recast of the local news, and there is now a confirmed case of it in my state!!

Plus, the person that has that case is only about an hour from where I live!! Why don't they lock the borders into Mexico so people don't bring it back with them? This person, the news said, took a trip to Mexico, came back to KY for a few days, then went to GA and became sick. I don't care about a person's rights when it comes to something like this, what about the rest of us that don't want to get it? Don't we have rights too?

ETA: they also think there is a 2 y/o child that has it in Louisville. My son is out of school in two weeks, I think I'll start his vacation early! He already had the regular flu once, I don't want him getting something worse!

 

[RabbitMage]

If it's already in the states, what good would closing the Mexican border do, exactly?

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Not much actually. It would have been nice if the government cared about the citizens of this country before it got here. Kind of sucks actually....

 

[PQ]

This has nothing to do with the topic. This has nothing to do with buying products made in Mexico.

When posting, please stay on topic.

 

[PQ]

Quote:
I would think you cant contain it if you dont know where its at or coming from.

 

[lengel]

DH read something that said that the deaths in Mexico were probably the result of a second flu virus running around and that the people who died had both at the same time. So far, no one from the US has actually died. The toddler in Texas was from Mexico and was said to have a compromised immune system from another illness.

Very few people here are even being hospitalized, let alone dying. I don't think this is nearly as bad as they're preparing for it to be, but I'm glad that the CDC is on it.

 

[RabbitMage]

If I remember my timeline correctly, the virus would have traveled into the U.S. before we even knew it was an issue. So are we supposed to end all international travel because of a threat we don't know exists?

I'm not following the logic here.