Lucknow: Regional Science City (RSC) organised a science lecture on ‘Swine flu: precaution and strategies to combat’ on Friday. The lecture was delivered by Dr T N Dhol, head of microbiology department, Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute, in collaboration with UPASTA (Uttar Pradesh Association for Science and Technology Advancement).

Explaining about the disease, Dr Dhol said that ‘Swine Influenza-A’ (H1N1), which is also known as swine flu, is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. He said that swine influenza was first detected in Mexico in April, 2009 and has spread to many countries of the world. "The laboratory testing has confirmed that many of the genes in this new virus have gene segments from swine, avian and humans and that is why the scientists gave it the name ‘Influenza-A (H1N1)’, he said.

Dr Dhol said that it is a contagious disease, which spreads from human to human and its virus spreads faster in cold conditions as compared to warmer regions. He said that the age group of 15 years to 44 years is more prone to this disease but the mortality rate is not as high as other pandemics such as Spanish flu.

According to Dr Dhol, the symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to symptoms of regular human flu which include fever, cough, sore throat, body ache, headache, chills and fatigue. Pregnant women and children are more prone to this disease and some people even report diarrhea and vomiting.

He told the children that this disease could be prevented to a greater extent by taking simple measures like application of mustard oil on nostrils daily, regular washing of hands and to contact doctors in case of flu-like symptoms etc.

About 250 students and several scientists and teachers participated in the event. S Kumar, project coordinator, RSC said that the main purpose behind organizing the lecture was to make children aware about various facts of swine influenza and strategies to combat the disease, if at all it spreads in a big way.

Source: TOI