Saturday, February 07, 2015

Common myths regarding Swine Flu in India - I am a vegetarian, can I get Swine Flu disease?

Q: I am a vegetarian, am I still at risk for getting swine flu disease?

A: Surprisingly, with the recent spurt in the cases of Swine Flu, this is the most common question that I am getting from parents/ patients.
Swine flu started with a farmer being infected due to an infection spread from a pig. the virus mutated in the body to become the Swine flu virus. This happened many years ago in Mexico.
Since then pretty much all cases of swine flu are transmitted by humans, form one person to another through coughing, sneezing, shaking hands etc. and the pigs are nowhere in the picture.
So whether you eat non veg or not, you are at risk for Swine flu, if it is circulating in your community. In India, at present there are quite a few cases being reported and over 160 deaths have been reported in Jan 2015 already. Hence I am recommending that my patients and their parents consider taking the Seasonal Flu vaccine that contains the Swine Flu (H1N1) strain.


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