Mexico has been at the centre of the global Swine Flu outbreak. The flu is a virus which actually began thousands of years ago in birds. It’s now spreading from human-to-human. It spreads in the normal way our flu does - through coughing and spluttering and health authorities are worried it will spread quickly and cause a pandemic, which is when a virus gets out of control and infects lots of people.
A pandemic is an infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide.
The trouble is it's so different to our human flu our bodies aren't prepared for it. We haven't built immunity to it and that's why it's making people so sick. Luckily there are medicines available which can treat the virus and scientists are working hard to create a vaccine.
Recommendations to prevent infection by the virus consist of the standard personal precautions against influenza. This includes frequent washing of hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, especially after being out in public. The Swine flu virus can live 2 days or longer on surfaces like tables, doorknobs, and desks.
In my country which is Sri-Lanka so far there have been no cases of Swine Flu.
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