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Health Encyclopedia: Swine influenza

Definition:
Swine influenza is flu virus usually found in pigs. The virus occasionally changes (mutates) and becomes infectious in humans. When this happens, the disease becomes a concern to humans, who have little or no immunity against it. This means the virus has the potential to spread quickly around the world. It also may be more difficult to treat than the usual, seasonal human flu viruses.

Alternative Names:
Swine flu; H1N1 flu

Causes:
The swine flu virus is contagious and can spread from human to human. At this time, it is unknown how easily it can spread between people.

It is known that flu viruses can spread from pigs to people, and from people to pigs. However, you CANNOT get the swine flu virus from eating pork.

Human-to-human infection with the swine flu virus likely occurs the same way as seasonal flu, when an infected person coughs or sneezes into air that others breathe in. People may also get infected by touching something with the virus on it, such as a door knob or counter, and then touching their mouth or nose.

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