Swine Flu (FYI)

1. What is Swine Flu (Swine Influenza)?
Swine flu is a respiratory disease affecting pigs that is caused by type A influenza
virus. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but
most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to influenza
outbreaks in humans. It causes high levels of illness but low death rates in pigs.

2. Does Swine Flu affect humans?
Swine flu viruses that cause disease in pigs very rarely affect humans. However,
sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these
cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs but there have also been
documented cases of human-to-human spread of swine flu.

3. How does Swine Flu spread to humans?
Swine flu spreads to humans mainly through contact with infected pigs, which shed
the virus in their saliva, nasal secretions and faeces. Limited human-to-human
transmission can also occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people.

4. Can people catch Swine Flu from eating pork?
There is currently no evidence to suggest that swine flu can be transmitted to
humans from eating pork or pork products that have been thoroughly cooked.

5. What are the symptoms of Swine Flu in humans?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of
regular human seasonal influenza. An early symptom is high fever, and this is
followed by cough, sore throat, runny nose, and sometimes breathlessness a few
days later.

6. How can human infections with swine flu be diagnosed?
To diagnose swine flu, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected
within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be
shedding the virus). However, some persons, especially children may shed the virus
for 10 days or longer.

7. What medications are available to treat swine flu infection in
humans?
There are three different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in Singapore for the
treatment of influenza: amantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. Another antiviral drug,
rimantadine, is also licensed for use in the United States for the treatment of
influenza. While most swine flu viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the
most recent swine flu viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and
rimantadine. At this time, the US CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu®)
or zanamivir (Relenza®) for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine
flu viruses.