the human body retains influenza protection for over half a century

Anybody over the age of 52 is more likely to be safe from the swine influenza virus than people younger than 52 according to Daniel Jernigan from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s influenza section.

Mr. Jernigan explained that the famous Spanish influenza which killed millions of people around the world when it broke out in 1918 was in fact similar to the present swine influenza virus. When a new avian influenza virus broke out in 1957 it replaced and removed the Spanish influenza virus from general circulation however those people who were exposed to the Spanish flu and its variants still retain the antibodies. Those people born after 1957 could not be infected with the Spanish flu and therefore do not have the same likelihood of protection as people born previous to 1957.

It is incredible to think that the human body retains influenza protection for over half a century but from the statistics and data of people getting sick scientists have observed that older people get swine influenza far less than younger people. In fact the scientists have noted that over 60 percent of swine influenza cases in America have been individuals between the ages 5 and 25 and also that it tends to infect people under the age of 50 more so than regular season influenza.

Mr. Robert Belshe speaking on behalf of the Vaccine Centre at St. Louis University commented that it was one of the “few good reasons” to be aged 50+ because they had probably been infected with an influenza virus which was related to the present swine influenza virus.

To date over 10,000 individuals in over 40 countries have become sick from the swine flu according to World Health Organisation statistics.  The drugs Tamiflu and Relenza made by the pharmaceutical companies Roche and GlaxoSmithKline respectively have been recommended by the WHO as the best form of defence against the swine influenza virus.