What Age Group Does Swine Flu Affect?

Swine flu or the H1N1 virus has become a national scare because of its sudden appearance and collective international death toll. Many people fear the virus and it has been promoted to the level of a pandemic by the United Nations. However, in spite of all this, the swine flu virus is not something to be feared because of it is not a very active or deadly virus. As a matter of fact, it is a milder strain of the influenza virus or the common cold, which takes over a hundred thousand lives each year. The only reason the swine flu has had a high death toll is because of inadequate screening procedures and its side effects.

H1N1 affects all kind of people, young and old. But the fact is that a healthy adult should be able to combat the virus and recover from it within a week or so. The main problems that one would have to deal with are severe body ache and difficulties in breathing. Because of this, the age group swine flu affects and kills most are those who do not have an active or strong immune system. These would be the people in the age group of 0 to 15 and 55 and above. In other words, the young children and the elderly are at the highest risk for an age group being affected by swine flu and it can be lethal for them. They have a weak immune system which will not be able to take the severe attack of the flu and become weakened physically by it.

Although nobody knows why exactly, but another demographic that seems to be affected are pregnant women. Many number of pregnant women are falling ill with this virus and some are even dying. This means that apart from various age groups affected by H1N1, this demographic is at high risk to the virus and should be very careful about their health. Because of the tightness in the chest and difficulty in breathing causes by swine flu, those with diseases such as asthma and bronchitis will also suffer a lot. They will have to put up with even more breathing problems than usual and can fall ill.

Other than these, heart patients are also at a risk for complications causes by H1N1. Patients who have been suffering from chronic liver and kidney disease also suffer from body aches and vomiting causes by swine flu as it further suppresses their immune system and creates further problems. The age group affected least by swine flu is that of people 25 years to 45 years of age. These people have stronger immune systems that can work actively to produce H1N1 antibodies and will not suffer from the side effects of swine flu as much as other age groups. Those under the age of 5 years and those above the age of 60 years should be vaccinated immediately and others should cut down social interaction to a minimum.

Patrick Smith is an NYC native who not only reads about health scares but has reviewed under cabinet microwaves for http://www.undercabinetmicrowave.net.

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