Word: preventable
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...health officials across the globe prepare for the possibility of a global pandemic of swine flu, they have a relatively new weapon in the fight against influenza; antiviral drugs, first developed in the 1990s, have been shown to help treat and prevent influenza. But such drugs have never been used to tackle a widespread outbreak of influenza before, and there are concerns they may quickly prove ineffective...
...swine flu. The drugs work by inhibiting an enyzme chemical helper that the flu virus uses to spread from infected human cells to healthy ones. So while not killing the virus, it helps the body fight off the disease by slowing its spread. This, in turn, may help prevent "acute respiratory distress syndrome" - the sudden worsening of flu that, along with secondary lung infections, is a main cause of death among influenza patients. There is also evidence to suggest that they can be used prophylactically - to prevent rather than treat the disease. "We don't have many tools...
...they aren't used to prevent swine flu, can they help slow the spread of a pandemic? The most effective way of slowing a pandemic is to develop a vaccine. But doing so can take months. In the interim, antivirals may play a vital roll by making ill patients less contagious. When a person is sick with the flu, he or she "sheds" virus through coughing, sneezing and other excretions. Effective antivirals lessen the amount of virus a patient sheds (because the patient is not as severely ill) and shortens the length of time he or she sheds virus...
...have reassorted in a pig before infecting people. Far more investigation is still needed, but it's clear that while U.S. officials were looking for flu exports from Asia, they should have also improved surveillance of their southern neighbor. "I think it might have been possible to prevent it," says Daszak. "We should be paying more attention to our own backyard...
...likelihood, Winters and Simpson will get one year to prove themselves, as NCAA transfer rules will likely prevent any immediate return by Hatch. That would set up an entertaining battle for the starting spot in 2010, when Hatch, Winters, and Simpson could all be in the mix for the starting job as seniors...