is there a symptom that makes swine flu stand out? if so, what? alot of people at my school might have it, and one guy on the football team already DOES! (he could have spread it by playing football!) and what can we do to prevent it? other than the vaccine that hasn't come out yet?
"is there a symptom of the swine flu (H1N1 influenza) that makes it stand out from regular flu?" — H3N2 flu can cause nausea, vomiting & diarrhea in small children but rarely in adults. with H1N1, you'll see these symptoms show up more often in adults as well.
"what can we do to prevent it?" — you may not be able to prevent the flu but you can certainly try. Avoid people who are obviously sick. Don't ever share food/drinks with ANYONE because there's a thing called the incubation period. This is the period of time that elapses from the moment you become infected and the moment the first symptoms appear. you don't yet know that you're infected (and contagious) because you feel fine. Wash your hands. make it your business to know and understand how flu viruses are transmitted. there are more than 24 million websites about swine flu on Yahoo! alone. This is an opportunity to educate yourself.
Yes!! Analysis of the Spring & Summer infections of 2009 H1N1 show that: "approximately 40% of infected individuals have experienced symptoms that include gastrointestinal distress and vomiting". that is 50% higher than "seasonal" influenza. (New England Journal of Medicine v360 p2605.)
"Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections," WHO said. "In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays."
There is no difference in symptoms.