Swine flu infects more of the human body than ordinary flu

SHOOT: It gets into the stomach, hence the vomiting and diarrhea.

clipped from www.bloomberg.com July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu caused more-severe illness in ferrets than seasonal flu, according to two studies in the journal Science that help explain why the H1N1 virus causes symptoms not seen in regular flu such as nausea and vomiting. The H1N1 swine flu virus went further into the ferrets’ lungs, and also penetrated the gastrointestinal tract while seasonal flu stayed in the nasal cavity, researchers from the U.S. and the Netherlands found. Ferrets are affected by flu viruses much as humans are, the researchers said. “These data suggest that the 2009 A(H1N1) influenza virus has the ability to persist in the human population, potentially with more severe clinical consequences,” wrote the Dutch study authors, led by Ron Fouchier at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. Both groups found that ferrets infected with swine flu lost more weight than those exposed to seasonal flu, and that the swine flu virus was more widespread in the animals’ bodies.