Word: virus
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...Chickenpox is an acute, generalized viral disease. It is one of the most easily communicable of diseases, especially in the early stages. The virus is spread from person to person by direct contact or through the air (via respiratory secretions or airborne spread of secretions from the chickenpox lesions). The usual incubation period is 13 to 17 days. Initial symptoms may be sore throat, fever, headache or other viral like symptoms. These often occur a few days before the rash, which traditionally starts on covered parts of the body (chest or trunk...
...Wednesday, the Iowa Department of Public Health reported the first confirmed case of H1N1 in a house pet, a 13-year-old domestic shorthaired cat. The animal likely contracted the virus from its owners, veterinarians say, since two of the three family members living in the cat's household had recently suffered from influenza-like illness. Late last week, when the cat came down with flu-like symptoms - malaise, loss of appetite - its owners brought it to Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine for treatment. The family mentioned to the vet that they had also recently battled illness, which...
...clear how vulnerable cats, dogs and other household animals may be to the new virus, but the Iowa cat's case reinforces just how different H1N1 is from seasonal flu viruses. Although some household cats and certain wild cats in zoos have gotten ill with avian influenza, and dogs have their own canine version of the flu virus, pets don't normally get sick with the regular human flu. "There has never been a report of human seasonal influenza affecting cats or dogs," says Dr. Julie Levy, director of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine...
...Garvey notes that despite nearly 25,000 cases of positive, lab-confirmed H1N1 in people reported in the U.S. since last spring, the Iowa cat is the first pet to be documented with the virus. But before pet owners start suspecting Fido and Fluffy of being H1N1 hotbeds, Garvey stresses that so far, no cases of influenza of any kind in pets - including cases of bird flu - are known to have moved from animals into people. And even among the animals, the virus does not appear to spread easily, which may further suggest that pets are not ideal reservoirs...
Furthermore, the H1N1 virus should not become politicized. The government should prioritize health in its response, not politics. In Ukraine, combating swine flu seems to have turned into a contest among politicians to see who can be most aggressive when addressing public-health issues. However, the most extreme political response is not always the best one, and the ability to calibrate a measured response is as valuable as the ability to execute a far-reaching one. Public health is not a political game, and Ukraine’s leaders must realize that the cost of an overblown response is more...