UPSC Aspirant

Swine Flu! I hope this is the word uttered through out the world in 2009. Well, what do you mean by that? Its just a flu, then why we couldn't able to control that and save some precious human life? What happened to our science and technology in this concern? Yes, I know most of us would have wondered these questions.Before going into the actually topic,how many of you are aware of te meaning of the word swine? When you search it online you will get the result like this :(stout-bodied short-legged omnivorous animals).Which is nothing but a Pig.

I hope now you got a idea what a swine flu means-its nothing but a flu which affects the pig normally.Then why did it affect humans? Before that we need to learn something about its classification.

CLASSIFICATION OF FLU VIRUS

Influenza C : It generally affects humans and pigs, but do not affect birds.This form of influenza does not cause pandemics ( infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region) in humans

Influenza A :Influenza A has several sub-types: H1N1, H1N2, H2N3, H3N1 and H3N2. Out of this three types affect pigs:H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2. These three are the common strains world wide.