Swine Flu - prevention tactics
Flu FAQ below on webpage

Other interesting facts about Swine Flu (H1N1) FAQ

What does H1N1 stand for

• The "H" stand for "haemagglutinin" and the "N" stands for "neuraminidase."
• Bird flu (Avian Flu) is H5N1, an influenza A virus
• If infected with H1N1, you will develop antibodies against H1 and N1, and any similar strain with H1 and N1 like-proteins would be unable to infect you. However, if you were infected with H2N2, your H1N1 antibodies would not be useful and you would get sick again.
• Swine flu is H1N1, which is also an influenza A virus
• Hemeagglutinin proteins allows the virus to attach to human cells.
• Neuraminidase protein allows newly created viruses to detach from the cells and spread.

Which drugs are effective against swine flu

• The CDC recommends the use of Tamiflu (oseltamivir - by Roche, an oral neuraminidase inhibitor) or Relenza (zanamivir by GlaxoSmithKline, an inhaled neuraminidase inhibitor) for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses. The virus isolates that have been tested from the US and Mexico are however resistant to amantadine and rimantadine
• This doesn't mean that the CDC is recommending that everyone in the world start taking these medications so that we can all avoid getting the swine flu. The CDC's recommendation only applies to people who have had known exposure to the virus, or have confirmed or probable or suspected cases of swine flu. See the following CDC website:
  http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/recommendations.htm
• Oseltamivir use for children < 1 year old was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), and dosing for these children is age-based. (See table 2 from the CDC website of recommendations.)

In general what are the different types of flu viruses?

• Influenza Type A is the most common and also the scariest of the three influenzas, causing the most serious epidemics in history.
• Influenza Type B flu outbreaks also can cause epidemics, but the disease it produces generally is milder than that caused by type A.
• Influenza Type C flu viruses, on the other hand, have never been connected with a large epidemic, usually just causing mild respiratory infections similar to the common cold.
• Influenza A viruses are divided into subtypes based on two proteins on the surface of the virus: the hemagglutinin (H) and the neuraminidase (N). There are 16 different hemagglutinin subtypes and 9 different neuraminidase subtypes, Influenza A viruses can be further broken down into different strains. The current subtypes of influenza A viruses found in people are A (H1N1) and A (H3N2).

Tell me more about flu pandemics.

• There were three flu pandemics last century: 1918, 1957 and 1968.
• A pandemic is basically a global epidemic.

This is still a work in progress.  Perhaps there will be more to come.