Jessica Starman

Science world

October 5,2009

Disease Detectives

In San Antonio, Texas, High school two students started to show flu like symptoms and the high school was shut down. They normally wouldn't act like this for flu symptoms but they believed that they had the h1n1 virus which was first and Mexico and then spread to the united states and Canada.Silk's team showed up in Texas to examine the H1N1 out break. There were only a few amount of students at the high school had caught the virus but there could have also been other cases that had not been detected yet. Silk created a case definition to help identify who might have gotten the H1N1 virus. they were looking for anyone with upper respiratory infection. While they were trying to find out who was infected they were also trying to figure out why.They were also trying to figure out the origin of this virus and they believe that it originated from pigs which is how it got the nick name swine flu. The more they researched they found that the virus also contained genes from bird and human flu virus also. Silk's team decided that the H1N1 virus may not be As dangerous as they seem. Antiviral drugs can treat H1N1 and be very effective. Still the best treatment and way to prevent from getting the H1N1 is still to get a vaccine.