Where is Swine Flu, Dogs Included?

Swine Flu, Dogs Included, Temporarily Controlled

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Nancy Houser

We have been wondering where in the world is the deadly swine flu, dogs included with many other species. We don’t hear much about it, we don’t see it on the news or front page magazines, and nobody seems to be diagnosed or dying from it like in 2009. Like a ghost, the subject of swine flu has gently melted into oblivion . . and that is probably the good news. However, there is another rush slowly developing in the background of our media who still needs swine flu, one that wonders where it has gone to and what the fuss was all about anyway, originating from headline hungry journalists who wish to promote a world of “happy-go-lucky” virologists, at least according to Guardian writer, Mark Honigsbaum. Maybe, in order to look forward we need to look backward while anticipating any future global health risks for swine flu or any type of virus pandemic. Beginning in the spring of 2009 and leading to being called a pandemic, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had estimated that approximately59 million Americans had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus - synonymous with swine flu – with 265,00 people hospitalized and 12,000 deaths. The first swine flu dog death occured in December of 2009, after we were told dogs could not get it. That was ironic.

The 13-year-old mixed breed male, which is recovering, apparently caught the virus from his owner. But Michael San Filippo, a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association, said there’s no evidence that the flu strain can be transmitted from a pet to a person. (MSN)

Now . . . what was that? A person can transfer swine flu to a pet but not a pet to a person? Sounds to us like picking hairs. Can a get dog swine flu? Yes . . . he already has . . . even though it was said he never could. But the dog has to get it first . . . which he has also done . . . before he can transfer the virus to a human. The dog has met his qualifications, as just because he has not transferred swine flu done so yet, does that mean he cannot or ever will? The swine flu was obviously halted, thanks to the massive numbers of swine flu vaccine and the proper procedures put into effect. The world is now safe, or so it seems. But according to aid panelist Paul Jarris, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, along with other panelists warned that H1N1 will likely pose a critical public health threat for roughly 18 months. The problem is that the swine flu is extremely unpredictable, and has taught us many things over the past year.

Pigs have been a storage container for the H1N1 virus over the years

The H1N1 that just reared its ugly head was the same one we saw in the 1918 pandemic and whose “descendants” have circulated in humans ever since, except for one 20-year interruption. That is why the older people had an immunity to the new swine flu virus. This virus moved on to pigs and humans: (1) the human strain reappeared in the 1957-1958 pandemic only to disappear until 1977 when a lab accident brought it out; and (2) the H1N1 in pigs simply circulated at a slower pace. Combined with the short lives of pigs, it was not a problem and the 1918 virus did not mutate in the pigs or live very long. What is known is that the H1N1 virus blended with human and avian viruses, keeping the original direct descendants HA and NA unchanged. This way, the virus was kept in its original state in the pig as a storage container.

The Mutating H1N1 Virus in Humans and Pigs

The human H1N1 virus is the one that developed with the most changes between the two types. We need to keep in mind that a future pandemic of the seasonal virus is very possible, as seasonal H1N1 and the pandemic H1N1 are the same subtype even though they are different. This is because the human strain of H1N1 has put the human body under quite a bit of pressure from the immune system … . which contains their long-lived hosts. Unfortunately, by 2009 when the swine virus transferred into humans, the two viruses had become so different from their original state that people had no or little protection against it.

Future of swine flu, dogs and people combined

Everything about the future of swine flu is hypothetical, as any of the pandemic viruses have a tendency to run flu seasons for several years in a run. Similar to any research, it takes two or three years to gather enough data to get a good picture. For that reason, estimations are used at the beginning which cannot be written in stone. One example is the estimation of 36,000 deaths from swine flu, but in actuality it ran 12,270. Time will tell and we shall see . . . but do not bet the family farm on anything coming out of the media. They’re guessing just like everyone else!