Here is a list of discoveries from NPR reporters and editors.
First, the new swine flu strain IS treatable with existing drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza. The US has a stockpile of 50 million "courses of treatment" which means one week of treatment for 50 million people. Tamiflu is not thought to be in short supply in the commercial market, but inevitably we will see spot shortages as the news of more cases picks up. Relenza is not as widely used as Tamiflu.
Treatment has to start within 24-48 hours of the first symptoms to be effective. Even then, it only shortens the course of the flu by a day or two, but it does make the disease miler and helps prevent it from going into pneumonia.
Prevention is what you've heard by now - handwashing, social distancing - and today the CDC is telling people to stop social kissing when greeting. All things to stop the spread - which is almost exclusively through drops in the air from cough and sneezes (also cover coughs and sneezes).
You can't get it from eating properly cooked pork, even if the pig had the virus.
SYMPTOMS OF SWINE FLU: (you may have heard this in ATC Monday):
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, a few people get swine flu every year in the US. The symptoms of swine flu in people are pretty much the same as regular flu -- fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. In the current outbreak at the school in New York City, people also reported gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. The CDC says this is normal, too. In past outbreaks, swine flu has caused severe illness like pneumonia and respiratory failure. These severe illnesses are occuring in Mexico -- there may be as many as 100 deaths. And that's what's prompted the heightened concern over the new swine flu strain.
TERMINOLOGY: (you may have heard this in ME Monday)
An outbreak is defined as a sudden increase in the numbers of a particular illness. That's about where we are now - and have been - for the past several weeks. What caused doctors in Mexico to sit up and take notice was a sudden jump in serious pneumonias at the end of the regular flu season. Tests are underway now to determine how many of these cases might be swine flu.
An epidemic is an outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely. Since officials aren't sure how many of the cases of pneumonia in Mexico are actually swine flu, it's still a little too early to call it an epidemic. And the few cases in the U-S and Canada definitely are NOT an epidemic.
A pandemic is where a disease has spread across a wide geographic area and is affecting a large proportion of the population - typically millions. We're not there yet with swine flu, but public health officials worry we might get there if the outbreak in Mexico, the US and Canada grows larger.
