H1N1 aka SWINE Flu

Being the ahNGee thats been interested in these mandane stuffs....
its time that i recover that me thats interested and kaypo in these stuffs~ lol...

i got a confession to make first of all...
i DONT read newspapers nor watch the news...
so... ha..... i always am the last to know~
STUPIDITY right....?

anyways~ my ma was asking me about the H1N1 virus this morning.
including if we could eat pork at all if theres a chance that the pigs may be infected for all we know.

being the smart ass me, i ask her if she made a mistake with H5N1? H1N1 doesnt ring a bell!
ha~ i was so wrong lo~ when she said PIG i realise somethings wrong.
chinese paper. wah~ its been a long while since i read chinese papers. this time i devoured it greedily.

okay i concluded that:
1. It should be okay to eat COOKed pork since heat should do the job, and besides, whats the acid in our tummy for right?
(i was right~! However, it is essential to cook meat properly. A temperature of 70C (158F) would be sure to kill the virus. )

2. H1N1, sounds like an ancient strain...
(i was right again!! HA! it went back to 1918~ ancient right?!)

3. Symptoms.... probably like flu lor~ and shyt... im sneezing away NOW. uhoh...
(H1N1 is the same strain which causes seasonal outbreaks of flu in humans on a regular basis. Symptom of swine flu in humans appear to be similar to those produced by standard, seasonal flu. )

and what made me pretend to be this smart ass now?
the news on TV lah~ the magic box that got us glued all day on the couch rocketing the sales of chips and everything unhealthy.
mexico. phrase 4. temerature checks at the airports....

walau!!! phrase 4.... sustained human to human trasmission...
xiao liao lah...... scary like hell lor~ felt like SARs period again..
man am I glad I finally quit NOW! whew....

okay~ so this H1N1 aka SWINE FLU is like cousins to the H5N1 aka AVIAN FLU.
so these cousins probably share the same surname but are different family lo~
LOL~ synical expression...

so we've got an extension on the H5N1, H5N2 which is known to have infected people.
and H1N1 seemed jealous, jealous enough to want to catch up: The World Health Organization has confirmed that at least some of the cases are a never-before-seen version of the H1N1 strain of influenza type A, it contains genetic material that is typically found in strains of the virus that affect humans, birds and swine.

like all viruses, Flu viruses have the ability to swap genetic components with each other, thats means the new and improved version of H1N1 is a rojak of different versions of the virus.
Rojak in viral terms is bad bad news for us. in more common terms is mutation ar~!
mutation leh~ means new version, stronger, meaner and more deadly usually, unless its stupid or something (usually the failed versions "die out" la~ darwin's law muahahahah......)

so all my darlings out there, please load yourselves with vit C with workouts or something hor~ no more happy hours and late nights if u could help it alright?! build up ur immunity first! its always better to be on the defense than offense lah~ same in medical terms trust me~

BBC Swine Flu Watch
BBC News graphical Representation of the Avian Flu(H5N1)
CDC(US)
CDC Fluview
WHO phase of pandemic alert