Is the world in the grip of its first influenza pandemic in forty years? It definitely seems so!

The current swine flu or pig flu disaster traces its origin to the badly- hit South American country of Mexico, where a hundred and fifty people have been declared dead so far. The government has closed schools and has cancelled all public events.

There have been 20 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States alone prompting the federal health officials to declare a state of public emergency. Effective measures are being taken to dispense with some of the country’s emergency stock of anti-virals. None of the cases have been fatal thus far.

There have been reports of new, unconfirmed cases from France, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Spain. Canada has confirmed a few cases of swine flu.

The WHO refers to the present situation as a “public-health emergency of international concern”; nevertheless the emergence of a new strain of flu virus — H1N1—in several countries world wide has prompted some to believe that it is only a matter of time before the WHO assigns the ‘pandemic’ status to the situation.

The Flu Virus

The influenza virus mutates constantly; in other words it is highly prone to change. Nevertheless our immune system is viable enough to guard us against the influenza virus.

Influenza should not be confused with Cold which also is caused by a virus. The term ‘Influenza’ comes from the Italian: influenza, meaning “influence” (Latin: influentia) as it easily infects one person to another by various contact methods.

From time to time, however, the flu virus inhabiting animals, exchanges its genes with other viruses and undergoes a transformation. This results in the emergence of a new strain of flu virus which is capable of spreading from one human to another because of the lack of natural or acquired immunity against it.

An example is the “Spanish flu” pandemic of 1918, which wiped out an estimated 40 to 50 million people worldwide.

In case of a new pandemic the WHO has established six pandemic phases. The H5N1 avian flu virus – of the ‘bird flu’ fame- is not transmitted from one human to another. Hence it is at phase 3. If a new strain emerges which can be easily transmitted from one human to another, the WHO would then upgraded the status to phase 4 – an indication that we have a pandemic on hand.

Normally the pig flu or swine influenza virus as the name suggests is confined to that species and does not infect humans. However the H1N1 swine flu virus has been declared as a new virus by the CDC with the “sustained ability” to pass from one human to another, harboring the potential to cause community-level outbreaks. It comprises of genes from the human and birds and pigs.

Due to reports about the virus emerging from across the world, it appears that we could well be in the midst of a pandemic. Experts are waiting for more proof before making the declaration.

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