page_title: 2009 swine flu pandemic
section_title: Travel precautions
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 swine flu pandemic / Prevention / Infection control / Travel precautions
caption_attribution_description: English: Thermographic camera &amp; screen, photographed in the airport terminal of Ioannina, Greece. Thermal imaging can detect elevated body temperature, one of the signs of the virus H1N1 (swine influenza).
context_page_description: The 2009 swine flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic that lasted for about 19 months, from January 2009 to August 2010, and was the second of two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. First described in April 2009, the virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1, which resulted from a previous triple reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses further combined with a Eurasian pig flu virus, leading to the term "swine flu".
  Some studies estimated that the actual number of cases including asymptomatic and mild cases could be 700 million to 1.4 billion people—or 11 to 21 percent of the global population of 6.8 billion at the time. The lower value of 700 million is more than the 500 million people estimated to have been infected by the Spanish flu pandemic.
  The number of lab-confirmed deaths reported to the WHO is 18,449, though this 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic is estimated to have actually caused about 284,000 deaths. A follow-up study done in September 2010 showed that the risk of serious illness resulting from the 2009 H1N1 flu was no higher than that of the yearly seasonal flu. For comparison, the WHO estimates that 250,000 to 500,000 people die of seasonal flu annually.
context_section_description: On 7 May 2009, the WHO stated that containment was not feasible and that countries should focus on mitigating the effect of the virus. They did not recommend closing borders or restricting travel. On 26 April 2009, the Chinese government announced that visitors returning from flu-affected areas who experienced flu-like symptoms within two weeks would be quarantined.
  U.S. airlines had made no major changes as of the beginning of June 2009, but continued standing practices which include looking for passengers with symptoms of flu, measles or other infections, and relying on in-flight air filters to ensure that aircraft were sanitised. Masks were not generally provided by airlines and the CDC did not recommend that airline crews wear them. Some non-U.S. airlines, mostly Asian, including Singapore Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Aeromexico, took measures such as stepping up cabin cleaning, installing state-of-the-art air filters and allowing in-flight staff to wear face masks.
  According to studies conducted in Australia and Japan, screening individuals for influenza symptoms at airports during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak was not an effective method of infection control.
caption: Thermal imaging camera and screen, photographed in an airport terminal in Greece. Thermal imaging can detect elevated body temperature, one of the signs of swine flu.
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