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On Friday May 8th, Canada reported its first death from the H1N1 virus.
Canada has reported the 3rd highest number of cases with 224 laboratory confirmed cases as of today’s date. The confirmed death was of a 39 year old woman from Alberta who reportedly also had problems with asthma. In a typical flu season in Canada over 4000 Canadians die each year.
Canada’s pork producers are requesting that the press stop referred to the swine flu instead using H1N1, or the Mexican flu. This is because of the Canadian pork export market dropping from many countries banning pork products from any country with confirmed cases of swine flu. The Canadian Pork Council has sent a letter to the Canadian Minister of Health asking her to start referring to the virus as the “North American Influenza.” Canada exports almost $3 billion worth of pork products yearly.
In late April of this year, at the end of what would normally be the flu season – Mexico began reporting a large number of cases of flu like illnesses. Because of the number and the lateness of the year for these types of symptoms, Mexican health professionals began testing patients and identified a new strain of swine flu. The majority of these cases were reported in the area of Mexico City which is currently the largest city in the world.
Swine flu is a common respiratory illness among pigs and is caused by Type-A flu viruses. Pigs are vaccinated each year against this flu. Most swine flu viruses do not infect humans. But the current swine flu epidemic is different. This new virus does spread from person to person and because humans have no immunity, it can spread worldwide rapidly.
The symptoms of H1N1 are very similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu. They include fever, sore throat, cough, body aches, headaches, chills and extreme fatigue. Some people also report diarrhea and vomiting. Anti-viral drugs Relenza and Tamiflu have both proven effective in helping to relieve symptoms. It is important to drink plenty of fluids while ill with any type of flu. Water is best, for those who are bored with the taste of water or carbonated water, just flavor the carbonated water with Flavors for Sparkling Water and it will taste great.
H1N1 virus is not transmitted by food. Humans can not get this virus from eating pork or pork products. This virus is not a food born disease.
If you are ill with flu like symptoms and have recently visited Mexico, you should talk to your health professional. If ill with these symptoms, you should stay at home and not go to work or school to prevent further spreading of this virus.
In Mexico it seems that this flu might have reached its peak. As of May 8th, they have currently 1112 laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 flu with 42 deaths. In the United States, the number of laboratory confirmed cases is 896 in 41 states with 2 deaths reported in the state of Texas. According to figures released May 8th by World Health Organization, there are 2384 laboratory confirmed cases in 24 different countries.