How is the Swine Flu Transmitted

How do you get swine flu? The swine flu, obviously from the name, originates from pigs. While there is no vaccination available for the H1N1 strain as of now, in some months a new vaccine will be developed. It's up to YOU to ensure protection from the strain until then.

Because the flu originates from pigs, there are two ways how is the swine flu transmitted:

1. From pigs to humans

Let's first dispel a myth: Swine flu CAN NOT be transmitted via pork products.

The basic way the flu is transmitted from pigs to humans happens in pig farms. Like all influenza, swine flu transmits by touch and one-on-one contact. Because of this, the most common place the transmit of the flu from pigs to humans occurs are the pig farms; where farm workers and pigs are in close contact.

2. From humans to humans

This is the reason you should be worrying. Most probably you don't live near to any pigs that you get personally involved with: But that's not the way this influenza became a pandemic in the first place. The pandemic spreads by human to human transmission.

Like all influenza, swine influenza spreads by touch. The human saliva will have the flu virus in it, so coughing and sneezing of a person with the flu will cause the people around him/her to catch it. You can easily catch the flu through nose or mouth and other orifices in your body. Even the small pores on your skin might let the virus through.

This article deals with how the swine flu is transmitted. We'll concentrate on methods for avoiding the flu in the coming posts; but this one is so important we have to include this in this post: THE BEST WAY TO AVOID THE FLU IS BY FREQUENTLY WASHING YOUR HANDS. Wash them. Wash them and then wash them a little more. You can get infected even by shaking hands. For this reason, normal soap and water might not be able to do the trick. To be extra safe, you HAVE to use hand sanitizers, some of which you can find on Amazon: Hand Sanitizers on Amazon