How infectious is swine flu

Swine Flu Q & A: Is it going to get much worse? Should I try taking Vitamin C?

by Lynn on Apr 29, 2009

Q. How infectious is swine flu?

A. In the days since the disease was first reported in Mexico and the US it has spread across the world, triggering the World Health Organisation's decision to raise the pandemic threat from level 3 to level 4 (out of six). Flu is one of the most infectious illnesses known and the WHO has already recognised that the outbreak cannot be contained.

Q. Will we see it spread like ordinary winter seasonal flu?

A. That is not yet clear. Outside Mexico, swine flu has not so far been shown to spread widely in the community. Outbreaks appear to have been caused by travellers returning from Mexico spreading the virus in schools or to their families and close contacts. The first confirmed cases in Britain, Iain and Dawn Askham of Falkirk, Scotland, who had been on honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico, had contact with 22 people in the week since they returned, of whom nine have developed symptoms that could be swine flu.
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