<P> Cases of swine flu have been reported in India, with over 31,156 positive test cases and 1,841 deaths up to March 2015 . </P> <P> In Swine, an influenza infection produces fever, lethargy, sneezing, coughing, difficulty breathing and decreased appetite . In some cases the infection can cause abortion . Although mortality is usually low (around 1--4%), the virus can produce weight loss and poor growth, causing economic loss to farmers . Infected pigs can lose up to 12 pounds of body weight over a three - to four - week period . Swine have receptors to which both avian and mammalian influenza viruses are able to bind to, which leads to the virus being able to evolve and mutate into different forms . Influenza A is responsible for infecting swine, and was first identified in the summer of 1918 . Pigs have often been seen as "mixing vessels", which help to change and evolve strains of disease that are then passed on to other mammals, such as humans . </P> <P> Direct transmission of a swine flu virus from pigs to humans is occasionally possible (zoonotic swine flu). In all, 50 cases are known to have occurred since the first report in medical literature in 1958, which have resulted in a total of six deaths . Of these six people, one was pregnant, one had leukemia, one had Hodgkin's lymphoma and two were known to be previously healthy . Despite these apparently low numbers of infections, the true rate of infection may be higher, since most cases only cause a very mild disease, and will probably never be reported or diagnosed . </P> <P> According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of the 2009 "swine flu" H1N1 virus are similar to those of influenza and of influenza - like illness in general . Symptoms include fever; cough, sore throat, watery eyes, body aches, shortness of breath, headache, weight loss, chills, sneezing, runny nose, coughing, dizziness, abdominal pain, lack of appetite and fatigue . The 2009 outbreak has shown an increased percentage of patients reporting diarrhea and vomiting as well . The 2009 H1N1 virus is not zoonotic swine flu, as it is not transmitted from pigs to humans, but from person to person through airborne droplets . </P>

H1n1 virus causing swine flu is medically termed as