Swine Flu Scare

The swine flu scare is just one of many pandemic or epidemic scares in recent years involving a dangerous and communicable disease that health officials believe has the capability to spread to a large number of people at a very rapid pace, thereby rendering hundreds or thousands of people extremely sick across a geographical area. This has caused widespread panic in many locations as people struggle to identify and quarantine individuals who begin to show swine flu symptoms.

Other disease scares that have taken place during the last few decades have been the West Nile Virus scare, which was brought and carried by mosquitos, and the Avian Flu (or the Bird Flu, as it was commonly referred to or called). The new strain of the swine flu is said to include genetic material from several strains of flu, including the more common human influenza, the avian/bird flu, and another type of swine flu strain more commonly found in the eastern hemisphere throughout parts of Europe and Asia.

For this reason, its existence and spread throughout the western world is largely a surprise to many health organizations and the swine flu outbreak scare has caused quite a stir in many places throughout the U.S. The swine flu is not life-threatening unless it goes untreated, but it can cause death if this is the case.