There is a big difference between the swine flu pandemic in 2009 and the COVID-19, says an article.

It has been more than a decade since the world had witnessed another pandemic. The last pandemic was the H1N1 Swine Flu in 2009. From the spring of 2009 to the spring of 2010, the virus had infected at least 1.4 billion individuals across the world. It took the lives of 151,700 to 575,400 people, says the Centers for Disease Protections and Control. Currently, the world is being tried by another pandemic, the COVID-19 caused by then SARS-CoV-2.

Learning from a Past Pandemic

The world has been through a pandemic in the past. This means that there are assumptions that many governments may have been well-prepared by now to combat another. However, the significant differences between the Swine Flu pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic make the current pandemic difficult to control.

According to the University of California San Diego's Department of Medicine's Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences Steffanie Strathdee, the 2009 swine flu pandemic was a warning sign. It was a pandemic that did not result in the death of millions of people as others feared. However, it should have been a wake-up call for global populations. It is estimated that the current pandemic tends to become a major killer, says Strathdee.

Also, Strathdee is the author of 'The Perfect Predator.' The book is a memoir of her encounter of a battle with a lethal microbial pathogen called Acinetobacter baumannii. Additionally, she was able to witness how her husband almost lost the battle from the superbug. Due to the previous infection, her husband is at a high risk of getting serious complications if he gets infected with the novel coronavirus.

Their Differences

The first pandemic in the world is the 1918 Spanish Influenza. In world history, it is the most deadly. The second pandemic was the H1N1 in 2009. The swine flu pandemic was a result of the infection caught from a new strain of H1N1. The virus originated in Mexico before it had spread to different parts of the world. In June 2009, there were enough confirmed cases of the illness that allowed the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it as a pandemic.

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In the United States of America, from April 2009 to April 2010, the CDC estimates that there were 60.8 million confirmed cases of the illness. Also, they estimate that there were 274,000 hospitalizations caused by the disease. Approximately, 12,500 died from the illness. This reveals a 0.02% mortality rate from the disease.

The mortality rate from the novel coronavirus is higher compared to the swine flu pandemic. COVID-19 has a mortality rate of 2%. However, this ratio is expected to increase as more people are testing positive for the illness.

Primarily, the 2009 swine flu pandemic affected young adults and children. The majority of the deaths were young adults below the age of 65. In comparison, older people and those with pre-existing health conditions are the ones at a higher risk of getting severe complications from the COVID-19.

Another difference between the two latest pandemics is that majority of flu virus is spread through airborne particles and respiratory droplets while the novel coronavirus can be transmitted to humans through respiratory droplets. Also, H1N1 influenza is less contagious than SARS-CoV-2.