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H1N1 Risk
What is the risk for human health? Outbreaks of human infection from a virus which
came from pigs (swine influenza) do happen and are sometimes reported. Symptoms will generally be similar to
seasonal human influenzas - this can range from mild or no symptoms at all, to severe and possibly fatal
pneumonia.
As swine flu symptoms are similar to typical human seasonal flu symptoms, and other upper respiratory tract infections, detection of swine flu
in humans often does not happen, and when it does it is usually purely by chance through seasonal influenza
surveillance.
If symptoms are mild it is extremely unlikely that any connection to swine influenza
is found - even if it is there. In other words, unless the doctors and experts are specifically looking for swine
flu, it is rarely detected. Because of this, we really do not know what the true human infection rate
is.
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