Let’s begin with some known facts of H1N1 Flu, it may make the job easier.

Influenza A(H1N1) virus is a subtype of influenza virus A and is the most common cause of influenza (flu) in human beings. A few strains of H1N1 are endemic in humans and bring about a small fraction of all influenza-like illness and a large fraction of all seasonal influenza. Only in the year 2006 H1N1 strains led to the rise of approximately half of all human flu infections and the other strains of H1N1 are endemic in pigs (swine influenza) and in birds (avian influenza).

The specter of the same has already daunted the global community and in June 2009, WHO declared that flu due to a new strain of swine-origin H1N1 was responsible for the 2009 flu pandemic. This strain is commonly called “swine flu” by the public media.

What have been the reactions then? Take for instance the United States of America. The country is extremely conscious of the dreaded effects of the H1N1 Flu and is busy to adopt all measures to foil the same. As per the latest instructions of the government authority, school age children, apart from others, will likely get pandemic H1N1 flu vaccine in the fall, and they may get their shots at schools.

Is this a premonition? The government, however, is not ready to accept this notion and terms it as a mere precautionary measure. “This is not about raising alarms or stoking fears, but about being prepared,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at the gathering of 500 federal, state and local health officials at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

Going on with the speech, she made it clear, the U.S. government will provide $350 million for emergency planning for the pandemic. Among these $260 million will go to states and territories and $90 million to hospitals which must remain prepared to face any eventuality. The deadline for grant applications is July 24 and HHS hopes to disburse the money by July 31.