by AngelaWhite

Created on: July 25, 2010

What is the difference between the 1918 and the 2009-10 H1N1 strains of Swine Flu?

The 1918 strain and the H1N1 form of Swine Flu are very similar, are in fact, related. 2009-10 H1N1, is a direct descendant of the 1918 Swine Flu pandemic. Here's how it happened.

The spring of 1918 brought the first ever reported case of Flu in pigs. At the same time, the human population was experiencing a high level of flu infection, leading researches to think the virus was passed from people to pigs. It was not proven that such a transmission was possible, until the 1930's. By then, over 50 million people had been killed and over one third of the worlds population infected. 500,000 of those fatalities came from North America.

The Basics needed to understand the difference

Pigs are among the few animals that can host more than one strain of such a deadly virus as flu, which makes them a good host for a shifting antigen that mutates regularly and then spreads through the population again instead of dying out. Such a host allows different forms of the flu to mix, like human and bird strains.

Here are the differences between the 918 and the 1009-10 strains of Swine Flu.

(There is only one if you discount new symptoms and account for changes in restrictions. See the bottom of this article for details.)

The 1918 strain of swine flu was a result of a human giving the flu to a pig, who then mixed the new swine form with the human form and sent it back out to wreck havoc in the world.

The 2009-10 H1N1, is a mix of bird, pig, and human flu that brewed over the years inside swine to produce a strain people are not immune to yet. Flu is a regularly occurring virus in the human population that usually comes seasonally and each year, a new strain comes emerges but all of these newer 'crossbreeds' is related to the 1918  strain of Swine flu, including the 2009-10 H1N1.

Other differences:

The 1918 strain had fewer reports of vomiting and diarrhea.

The 1918 strain spread incredibly fast, 6-14 months, where as the 2009-10 strain is much slower, likely due to increased awareness and better enforcement of travel restrictions.

The 2009-10 strain seems to be less lethal. Not nearly as many people have died.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/0904301 11640.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/swine_flu/page3.htm

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