Swine Flu Origin

There are various theories regarding the origin of swine flu and the swine flu debate is at the moment an unstoppable train. Hardly surprising as in recent months it has dominated the headlines. Herein lies another problem as is often the case when a subject matter dominates both on and offline news is the core debate oft goes off track and worse, unqualified additions and omissions find or otherwise their way into the debate.

We then get to point whereby unreliable sources are quoted and sometimes the most important sources are left out entirely. Part of the problem of determining the flu origin appears to be the way it spreads, moreover, the rapidity of the spread. The virus can easily cross continents very quickly which makes it more difficult to contain too.

We know one thing for certain; the pig flu virus first appeared in pigs, and at first it was restricted to pigs and wasn't contagious to humans. For decades outbreaks of swine flu then was restricted to herds of pigs until suddenly, pig drovers, pig farmers and other agricultural workers who had close contact with swine were becoming ill with flu like symptoms.

The virus which had invaded the bodies of swine related workers, subsequently attacked the host's immune system and after extensive scientific testing was attributed to the pigs - hence the swine flu virus had morphed and was capable of being transmitted to humans. It was only a matter of time before the population at large would be infected - and this is where we are today!

Scientific researchers are still working round the clock to determine the source and origin of swine flu virus, it is however very much a work in progress. Meanwhile, we won't be speculating origins here, don't want to fuel the scaremongering fire do we?