The Origins of Swine Flu Virus and the Effects of Illness on Health

When I was still in elementary school, I heard about swine flu on TV and never gave much consideration to it. Then, my classmate was diagnosed with swine flu and was absent from school for almost an entire semester. I never knew what it was like to have that condition and I wondered about its origin and how it impacts human health. I can explore it now in this paper.

The swine flu is caused by an Influenza A RNA virus that first occurred in pigs. It manifests with cough, disorientation, and excretion of nasal mucosa among other symptoms. In other words, it has symptoms of regular flu. It was declared and traced to humans for the first time in 1918. This virus has the characteristic of any other virus. This means that it is enveloped, has a capsid made of proteins called capsomeres, lipid membrane, glycoproteins used for attachment to host cells, as well as Haemagglutinin that attaches to red blood cells’ receptors.

Another component of this virus is neuraminidase that virus uses to exit the host cell when it has finished with replication. The primary way of transmission is through coughing and sneezing; droplets fall onto a mucous membrane that surrounds nose, eyes, and mouth.

Infected person coughs, touch surfaces that are again touched by others. Severe influenza symptoms present themselves in the form of pneumonia and include vomiting, diarrhea, laboured breathing, blue skin, and muscle weakness.

To understand its seriousness in numbers, it caused approximately 20-50 million deaths in the world.1 Drugs that have been shown to be effective against Influenza A in Canada and USA are zanamivir and oseltamivir.

When it comes to precipitating factors, scientists tried to look for correlations between swine flu and other symptoms. One is that there is Vitamin D deficiency in patients who are diagnosed with H1N1. It was later suggested that these patients be given increased dosages of Vitamin D to reduce the negative effects on respiration.

Following the outbreak of Influenza A H1N1, some governments offered vaccination as prevention of further increase in incidence rates. People, including myself, are generally skeptical about vaccination because they do not know what is being injected into their bodies. We normally do not like to intoxicate our bodies unless pathogen is already there.

To exemplify this, in the UK, there was an unexpected decline in vaccinations, primarily due to the absence of disease, general well being, and skepticism toward its effectiveness. Another study conducted in England found that people vaccinated with Pandemrix experienced narcolepsy‒excessive day time sleepiness.  All vaccinated individuals were not narcoleptic before the administration of the vaccine. However, narcoleptic patients who received the same adjuvanted vaccine subsequently developed cataplexy.

A new variant virus of Influenza A emerged from the one that caused swine flu and is typed H3N2v when finding in humans and H3N2pM when finding in swine. This virus emerged because it acquired a gene, pH1N1 matrix M, that enabled it to transmit from animals. The probability of becoming infected by it depends on the rate of contact between humans and swine and the likelihood of transmission. Scientist tried to estimate the probability of becoming infected by the virus at an agricultural fair they called Fair A which 70 000 people attended.

Through a survey, it was reported that people spent approximately  minutes with swine. Swine at the fair were in close contact so it was assumed that swine got infected from swine and not from humans. The results indicated that probability of getting infected depended on contact with swine, immunity to the virus, and whether the swine were in infectious or recovered state. Recovered state means that swine were infected and then recovered from the virus. To prevent incidence of infection at places like fairs, it is suggested that swine be screened for the specific virus before exposed at a fair, isolated if infected, and vaccinated with a homologous strain to ensure reduction of viral shedding.

To conclude, skepticism towards vaccines and emergence of side effects once a vaccine is administered does not help with finding one final solution. The fact that it is transmitted from animals that humans use as a food source and that it can transform into other forms makes scientists’ job even more difficult. Consequently, we are left with the virus that is always in search for its new victims.