Protection From H1N1 Flu Is The Same As From Seasonal Flu.
The story H1N1 flu seems to part many characteristics with the seasonal flu it has in general replaced, a late study indicates. "Our results are further confirmation that 2009 pandemic H1N1 and seasonal flu have like transporting dynamics remove. People seem to be similarly communicable when ill with either pandemic or seasonal flu, and the viruses are likely to sprawl in similar ways," said Benjamin Cowling, lead father of a study appearing in the June 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The well-mannered news is that this means the preventive measures healthfulness authorities have been recommending, such as frequent hand washing, should be equally functioning against pandemic flu. "Influenza is very difficult to contain, but in the know measures including the availability of pandemic H1N1 vaccines should be able to reduce the worst of any further epidemics," added Cowling, who is an assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong.
Cowling and his colleagues followed 284 household members of 99 individuals who had tested absolute for H1N1. Eight percent of the household contacts also kill dicky with the H1N1 virus, about the same transmittal rate as seen for the seasonal flu (9 percent), the researchers found.
Viral shedding (when the virus replicates and leaves the body), as well as the decorate of true to life sickness, were also nearly the same for the two types of flu. The "attack rate" (meaning the share of people in the entire population who get sick) for H1N1 was higher than that for seasonal flu and the inequality was most pronounced amidst children. The authors hypothesized that this might be due to the fact that younger nation seem to have lower natural immunity to the virus.
