Does swine flu spread more easily than other types of influenza?
Dr Chrissie Pickin: “It’s certainly spreading more easily for a new virus than we would expect. “Very often you get a new virus and it takes a while for it to get used to spreading between humans, and that’s what we saw with bird flu: although it was causing disease in humans it really wasn’t spreading very rapidly so it didn’t really have that much pandemic potential. “Whereas [the swine flu] has very quickly developed the capacity to spread rapidly between humans. “It seems to be spreading more rapidly than seasonal flu but particularly in certain groups and certain circumstances: it seems to spread rapidly among young people, and it seems to spread rapidly in closed groups. “So we’ve seen clusters on the cruise ship [the Pacific Dawn], and clusters on planes, and we’re seeing across the world clusters in schools.” Q. What’s the general advice to Tasmanians and Tasmanian businesses to slow the spread of swine flu? Dr Chrissie Pickin: “Wash your hands regularly, certainly before you e
