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The outbreak of swine flu is creating a lot of concern among the public, especially in the US and in other countries that seem to have been hit by the virus that originated in Mexico.

Here are some questions and answers about swine flu:

Are there drugs that can be used to treat people affected by swine flu?

Of four antiviral drugs that we have available, two are effective in treating swine flu.

People that have recently visited Mexico should take those drugs?

In case of symptoms that can be related to the virus, it is of crucial importance to see a physician as soon as possible, and follow his/her advice.

What are the symptoms of swine flu?

Symptoms of swine flu include fever, running nose, sore throat, diarrhea, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, nausea, vomiting.

People who are about to travel should take antiviral drugs as a preventive measure?

No, it is not a good idea. The virus is in fact capable of mutating quite rapidly and after some time it could develop a resistance towards those drugs. For this reason, it is important to use the drugs only when it is necessary and sticking to the correct and precise doses. Otherwise there’s a risk of decreasing the effectiveness of our weapons against this virus.

So it is not certain that these medicines will protect us from the pandemic?

Yes, yes, if the medicines are used correctly they are very effective. When thinking about those types of virus outbreaks we often tend to think about the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19. But then we didn’t even have the means to cure pneumonia, and in fact it was because of the complications of the flu, and not of the virus per se, that there were so many deaths. Today the risk that the pandemic transforms itself into a catastrophe is really remote.

But why there have been so many victims in Mexico then?

Every kind of flu, even the most common one that hits during the winter season, causes some victims. To be able to make a comparison between the mortality rate of normal flu and that of swine flu we would have to know the exact number of people that have been affected in Mexico, but so far we do not have that data at our disposal.

Besides the medicines that are effective after the contagion has already taken place, is there a preventive vaccine?

No, not yet, but the vaccination can be produced because the virus has already been isolated.

And what are we waiting for in order to produce it?

Producing a vaccine on a large scale takes quite some time and has high costs. We will start to produce it only if and when the swine flu will become really dangerous. At the moment we are not convinced that it is. In the US, in 1976, for only a few cases of swine flu there has been the immense endeavour of providing a vaccination to about 40 millions of persons, and with a vaccine that didn’t turn out to be really safe for the health.

Source: E. Giardi – Epidemiologist