The New York Times, April 29th, 2009, science section has a great article on the current swine flu virus that is affecting many people worldwide and which can possibly become a pandemic. We have been hearing reports of Mexico as the main area of occurrence but cases has been reported in New York, California, Kansas, Texas, Indiana and Ohio. Cases have also been found in Canada, Israel, Spain, Scotland and New Zealand. Viruses can mutate and evolve into different strains. The United States has a drug called Tamiflu that is said can fight the virus, but pharmaceuticals companies are still being urged to continue their production of new drugs for new strains of the virus. The public is being told to wash hands and clean surfaces that may be contaminated, since it is possible to contract the virus not only via airborne, but also by touching a surface and then touching the mouth or nose.
Reference: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/influenza/swine_influenza/index.html
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