What is so special about swine flu?

Swine flu is nothing more than flu. There is essentially no difference between the different seasonal flu viruses and the swine flu virus. They are all influenza and they all vary in the same components. So what is all the fuss about swine flu?

The flu virus, influenza, is a very deceptive creature. It has two important proteins that allow it to infect cells – one binds to cells allowing the virus to infect them (hemagglutinin) and the other allows the virus to escape from infected cells in order to infect other cells (neuraminidase). These two proteins are also the ones targeted by your defense mechanisms and by doctors.

However, the virus is not stupid and it is constantly changing these proteins. So this year you are infected by a certain strain of flu, let’s say H5N2 (which has hemagglutinin type 5 and neuraminidase type 2). Your body develops defenses against H5 and N2. You are happy, because you know you won’t be infected by H5N2 again, because your body will not even allow the virus to enter cells.

But next year a new strain reaches your body, this time H4N2. Your body is unprepared – the flu won’t be much intensive because you already have defenses against N2, but you will still suffer some symptoms due to H4.

Because we have been exposed to many types of H and N, most of the times our flu is mild and goes away easily. The problem happens when a virus which has a type of H and N against which you have never fought reaches your body.

That is the case with H1N1, the swine flu. The vast majority of the population (old people excluded) has never been exposed to neither H1 nor N1, which have not been around for tenths of years. Because of this, their body cannot react against this infection before it reaches alarming proportions with destruction of a large part of your lungs.

So you see, there is nothing really special about swine flu. The problem is in our own bodies – in the fact that we have never met this virus before and are, therefore, unprepared. For our bodies, swine flu is the same as a new disease. Fortunately for us, flu is a very old disease and medicine is more than ready to face this threat.

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