Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
19 November 2010
Swine Flu Origin
When the World Health Organization declared
a flu pandemic the Centres for Disease
Control in Atlanta, Georgia identified the culprit
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 to blame for the influenza pandemic. Rebecca Garten of America’s Centres 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 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 around the world so far. In a paper published in Science, they confirm
that the closest genetic relatives of the new virus are swine-
The virus is made up of a stew of genetic fragments from bird, swine, and human influenza.
H1N1 Undetected for Years
The Economist article 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 the virus jumped the species barrier “to humans occurred 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 rank to Phase 6 – the highest level.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, said 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.”
It wasn’t until August 10, 2010 that the WHO declared the pandemic over, by which time the UN agency had come in for a lot of criticism that it exaggerated the danger posed by the disease.
Stephanie Nebehay of Reuters News Agency writes (August 10, 2010) the 2009 swine flu outbreak was the “first pandemic in more than 40 years, whose mildness left some Western governments holding huge stockpiles of unused vaccines.”
Image credit
George Chriss
Sources
“Putting the Pieces together.” The Economist, May 28, 2009.
“Swine Flu Origins Revealed.” ScienceDaily.com June 14, 2009.
“WHO Chief Says H1N1 Pandemic is over.” Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters, August 10, 2010.
© Canada and the World, October 1, 2010
All rights reserved
“The pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The pandemic influenza virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C, corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat.”
World Health Organization
SWINE FLU NUMBERS
As of September 2010
Number of cases in the world: 1,634,281
Number of deaths worldwide: 19,660
Mortality rate worldwide: 1.19%
Country with highest number of deaths: United States -
Country with highest mortality rate: Belarus -
Countries with lowest mortality rate: Belgium and Iceland -
Number of swine flu cases in Canada: 25,828
Number of deaths in Canada: 429
Mortality rate in Canada: 1.63%
Source
“The worldwide total for seasonal flu related deaths is generally between 250,000 and 500,000 a year.”