Swine flu is the short form for the term swine influenza, which is a disease resembling the genre of influenza. Speaking from a technical point of view, it is also known as the H1N1 flu and from a rather layman perspective; it is called the pig flu or the hog flu.
The swine flu virus can be prominently traced in the hog populations in the various countries of the world. The transmission of this specific virus from the pigs to the human beings is not a common occurrence as it is being made up by the media sources today, and frequently results in the formation of flu fighting antibodies in bloodstream. If by any chance that is accidentally, human influenza occurs, only then it is called the zoonotic type of swine flu. Due to obvious reasons, people with regular contacts to pigs are more prone to be attacked by this virus and incurring this dangerous infection. A more notable juncture in this regards is that the meat of an infected swine, when thoroughly washed and cooked, is potentially free from any risk of causing any sort of infection.
Due to obvious reasons, the characteristic of viruses of the swine flu are different from those of the typical human flu. The swine flu virus or the SIV in short, is one among the numerous varieties of flu viruses that is specifically endemic in nature in hogs. In the current crisis scenario faced by the common people from across the different facets of the society, the SIV includes the influenza C and correspondingly the different subtypes of the influenza A, for instance H1N1, H1N2 etc.
The nature of the swine flu virus that is presently causing havoc across the nations of the world is somewhat perplexing, since it is affecting the people of every age who never have had direct contacts with the pigs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has exclusively coined a particular term for this swine flu virus that is the pandemic influenza A. The symptoms of being infected by the virus of swine influenza are fever, pain in throat, continuous coughing, weakness of the body, pain in the muscles, severe headache etc. The concerned administrative bodies are doing their best to prevent its spread and occurrence.