Swine Flu. What a rollercoaster! It was a pandemic, now it is a joke. That is, if you listen to the media. They have done everything possible to make this H1N1 virus, first called swine flu, then called mexican flu, pure entertainment. But, who will be laughing in the end?

This swine flu, or H1N1, is much like every other virus. The difference is it is new, and that is why we are seeing its relative benign nature, at least, at the moment. The reason scientists are still warning of the danger is not because of what is happening now, but what they project may happen years from now.

See, viruses are made of genetic components just like every other organism on this planet, and that genetic material has to evolve to become efficient. Since it is relatively new, it hasn’t had time to get really nasty, but most scientists think it will.

The virus is called swine flu because of its genetic components; it is 5 parts pig, 2 parts bird and 1 part human. That means it has the capability to jump from pig to human to bird, if it so desires (actually viruses don’t desire anything but … ). Since it is composed of mostly pig genetics, it is lovingly referred to as the swine flu.

Image from NewScientist.com

If you have taken a microbiology course in college, this may be old news to you, but if not, listen carefully. Viruses get better and better at wreaking havoc on its host through multiple rounds of invasion. Every time it invades a host and replicates, the viral design that is most efficient gets to be the one that is passed on, and passed on, and passed on. So, the 100th time it infects someone, it is vastly superior to the version of itself that infected the first couple of hosts.

Think evolution on a massively compressed time scale. Animal evolution, hundreds of thousands of years; viral evolution; thousands of days.

Back before we had vaccinations, people astutely noticed that those that were the first to be infected, were the ones with the mildest symptoms. The last ones to become infected were sadly, and most likely, dead. They ingeniously figured that when they witnessed the first in the town to get sick, all of the town’s people would throw a huge party at patient zero’s house. This would infect everyone with the first generation virus. Pretty smart, huh?

Anyways, we may have seen the last of the swine flu, but many experts think not. Either way, we need to play it smart. If this thing gets around the world, when it comes back, it will be more dangerous than ever.

One may ask, “How can I best protect myself from this disease?” Well, as of right now, it’s don’t have respiratory problems, don’t have cardiovascular problems and … LOSE WEIGHT! As you can see from the graph below, obesity has been the biggest correlation with those that die from the swine flu infection.

Image from NewScientist.com

Good luck and if you want more information on this virus, New Scientist has some great information.