When the influenza outbreak started to make news in April 2009, the pork industry tried to curb references to “swine flu.” News readers and newspaper reporters were instructed to refer only to H1N1 influenza lest the sales of pork chops and spare ribs started to fall.
The Real Cause of Swine Flu
A new study suggests pigs really were the source for the influenza pandemic, although the experts say humans cannot catch it by eating pork. Rebecca Garten of America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been leading a team of several dozen researchers. They have determined that the outbreak started in pigs. Reporting on the study The Economist (May 30, 2009) wrote that the study group “sequenced full or partial genomes of 76 samples of the new virus, which has afflicted almost 13,000 people (more recent numbers below) around the world so far. In a paper published in Science, they confirm that the closest genetic relatives of the new virus are swine-flu strains from both North America and Eurasia.”
The virus is made up of a stew of genetic fragments from avian, porcine, and human influenza strains.
H1N1 Undetected for Years
The Economist article, “Putting the Pieces together,” points out this particular brand of swine flu may have escaped detection by monitoring agencies.
“The worrying news,” the magazine wrote, “is that the study found the genetic material in the new influenza is significantly different from that in its known close relatives. This, they conclude, means the bug was circulating and evolving undetected in swine for quite some time before the first people were infected.”
This conclusion has been confirmed by a study reported at ScienceDaily.com (June 14, 2009). The research was conducted by Dr. Oliver Pybus of Oxford University’s Department of Zoology.
Dr. Pybus is quoted as saying: “Using computational methods, developed over the last ten years at Oxford, we were able to reconstruct the origins and timescale of this new pandemic. Our results show that this strain has been circulating among pigs, possibly among multiple continents, for many years prior to its transmission to humans.”
They believe that the virus jumped the species barrier “to humans...several months before recognition of the outbreak.”
World Health Organization Raises Threat Level
On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its world pandemic alert to Phase 6 – the highest level.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the “WHO designation of a pandemic alert Phase 6 reflects the fact that there are now ongoing community level outbreaks in multiple parts of world.
“WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus."
As of June 24, 2009, the WHO reported 55,800 confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide, with 238 deaths. That was an increase of 3,700 and seven deaths from two days earlier. The hardest hit countries have been the United States (21,449 cases), Mexico (7,847), and Canada (6,457).
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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