Swine Flu Outbreak
Ahem, it has almost been 5 months since our last post. Supposedly we were to provide follow ups to the financial crisis, which appears to have shown tentative signs of recovery in recent months.
But alas, who could have forseen an outbreak of swine flu?
The current swine flu outbreak has caught our attention with its rapid and seemingly relentless spread. This wave of contagion has affected many countries across the globe. So much for a flat world, indeed!
The swine flu has been common among pigs, but this new strain of virus is posing a real threat to human with its apparently high human to human transmission capability. Its high virulence is due to the reassortment of human influenza and swine influenza viruses, presumably due to superinfection in an individual human (from wikipedia)
While health authorities scramble to contain the spread, it begs the questions - what caused it?
Was it years of poor farming practices and intensive pig farming? Or misuse of antibiotics and drugs that lead to new mutations?
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:09 pm
hmm… i have to say that ever since the dawn of humanity , humans have been engaging in an arms race with diseases.