The WHO said the H1N1 flu was the fastest moving flu pandemic ever. It took less than 6 weeks to spread as much as others have in 6 months.Pandemics have existed for centuries since at least the 1500’s and maybe as early as 430 B.C. The fact that H1N1 flu is the fastest spreading germ ever is important. It means that it is highly contagious and it can evolve quickly when pressure to its existence occurs.
A pandemic germ means it spreads worldwide. Years ago due to less people on earth, and slow travel options, it was harder for germs to spread worldwide. Oceans, mountains, and the distance barrier were the biggest hurtle to many germs reaching pandemic status. Many lethal germs stayed local due to the germs “infectious period” not being long enough to reach another host. Flu viruses live/die due to the number of host they infect.
No flu outbreaks are the same. Each one had their own unique traits. However, the H1N1 flu shares a few of the following traits that most flu pandemics have.
1. Up to 50% of the population could catch the germ in the first year. This number could rise to up to 70% after a few years. As of mid November, the CDC said that about 15% of the population in the U.S. had the H1N1 flu during the two waves.
2. All pandemic flu germs change constantly.
3. There were at least six flu pandemics in the last 180 years, all flu pandemics lasted at least 2 years except the 1968 flu. The flu pandemic of 1830 lasted at least 3 years and the 1889 Russian flu lasted for up to 5 years. It had five waves of flu activity.
4. Many flu outbreaks start out MILD and evolve to a much more dangerous phase. The 1918 flu, the worst in history, started out MILD and became the worst killer of all times. It killed from 50 to 100 million people worldwide. The 1830, and 1957 flu also started out very MILD and ended up much more lethal.
The H1N1 flu has a few things that co-exist with it that could make it more lethal.
1. It has the H5N1 bird flu virus that co-inhabits the earth with it. Many experts believe that their mixing of needed traits could be the worst- case scenario creating a disaster.
2. It could mix with the seasonal flu also creating more problems.
3. Or it could just continue evolving like it is possibly creating problems similar to what happened in 1918.
The H1N1 flu mutation that started in the Ukraine about a month ago created a strain. That strain is tailor made to spread all over the world with few problems.
The mutated H1N1 flu germ is trying to adjust to things we are doing to defeat it. The germ sees that we are using antiviral drugs/vaccines to control it. Our use of these tools directly challenges its ability to live/thrive.
The new changes in the germ allow it to connect deeper in the lungs. Once there it spreads rapidly causing excess bleeding and burning out the lungs. The lunges turn black. This could create more deaths.
A virus’s only purpose is to copy itself. When it replicates in large numbers, it satisfies its primal urge. It must have a host in order to replicate and its main goal is to make as many copies of itself as possible. It does this by invading cells and forcing them to make millions of new viruses.
All viruses as a group are highly evolved and very efficient. You could almost call them a perfect infection machine. The flu germ is among the most proficient.
When a virus reproduces, its genes make exact copies of themselves. Well, not exact because there are many mistakes that occur. Flu germs mutate quickly. There name as a group is a “quasi species” or a “mutant swarm.” There are trillions of closely related germs made from a mutant swarm. There will be many versions and the swarm as a whole will have almost every variation. Most of the mutations will have a negative effect on the germ. This will destroy the virus or its ability to infect. The bad part is many of the other changes will adapt quickly to its surroundings. Therefore, when you hear that the virus has mutated making certain drugs useless, the mutant swarm is to blame. A drug/vaccine resistant mutation of a flu virus can emerge within days.
Mother Nature is at work trying to stay one-step ahead of our science. I think we will be able to win this war in the next few years.
The mutated strain shows a low reactor to the H1N1 flu vaccine. This means that our current vaccine will probably not work against it. It also shows resistance to our main antiviral drug Tamiflu. The mutated H1N1 flu has spread to different parts of the world. Countries include Norway, China, Italy, the U.S.A. and others. If you expose 100 people each to the mutated form of H1N1 flu and H1N1 flu, the new strain could spread to more people. It could spread more due to the resistance to the vaccine/antiviral drugs. Natural selection would probably pick the mutated strain to dominate.
The BIG QUESTION IS “IS IT AS CONTAGIOUS AS THE NORMAL H1N1.” If it is or if it picks up that trait, watch out because it could spread around the world before we would be able to control it.
It would take months before our vaccine making companies could produce enough vaccines to protect most of us. If Tamiflu where to become completely useless, then Relenza would have to carry the load.
Recently, there were reports of infection rates dropping but deaths from H1N1 rising. This is probably a direct reaction from the H1N1 flu’s evolution.
Do not panic, there are a lot of if’s and maybe’s. If the worst-case scenario happens, most likely a small percentage of people will pass away. The big reason many people died in past flu outbreaks were due to bacterial infections and pneumonia. Our state of the art science will prevent many of those deaths.
The free H1N1 Flu Manual will help you survive and prosper during the most severe flu related times. Get a free 165 pages interactive and multimedia digital e-Book manual NOW! Call 719-237-1167
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