The number of people contracting swine flu is on the rise in the United States with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirming five more cases from the initial two in California. None of the patients has had direct contact with pigs known to transmit this kind of flu.
The patients range from age 9 to 54, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's Interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health Program adding that they all have recovered.
“We are likely to find more cases,” Schuchat further said. “We don't think this is time for major concern around the country.”
Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks among pigs. Swine flu viruses are very rare in humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu do occasionally occur. Most commonly, human cases of swine influenza happen in people with direct exposure to pigs.
Only 12 other cases of human infection with swine flu have been detected since 2005, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 12 cases, 11 of the patients had had contact with pigs. In 1976, a strain of swine flu caused illness in 13 soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey, killing one.
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