Find out why the swine flu pandemic is causing a mass panic of global proportions!

During March and April 2009, Mexico experienced numerous outbreaks of people suffering from respiratory illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later confirmed that this was due to swine flu. Swine influenza, also known as swine or pig flu, has now been officially announced as a pandemic or epidemic of global proportions.

There are many symptoms. However, you should be extra vigilant for anyone experiencing severe respiratory problems. Especially if they have never had any kind of shortness of breath before.

Surveillance by the World Health Organization and local health authorities in the US have confirmed that this infection can spread rapidly from person to person and from country to country.

Two points worth noting about pandemic swine flu compared to seasonal flu are:

– The percentage of people hospitalized is much, much higher than those infected with seasonal flu

– Seasonal flu infection usually occurs mainly among young children and the elderly. It appears that people with these new chronic health conditions in Mexico and the United States are primarily between the ages of 5 and 65. The highest percentage of people hospitalized are between 30 and 44 years old.

Some of the symptoms of swine flu are very similar to those of the common flu. They include fever, cough, body aches and pains, sore throat, headaches, and extreme fatigue.

So far, the swine flu pandemic has been reported to have infected some 30,000 people in 74 countries. There are 144 confirmed deaths, however these numbers are increasing every day.