By now, the world has already realized that the dreaded pandemic-level disease called swine flu, also known as Influenza A (H1N1) ‘isn’t as contagious and deadly as feared.’ Unfortunately for Big Pharma and vaccine manufacturers who want to cash in on the intended pandemic paranoia (remember HIV/AIDS?), ‘the initial fear that swine flu is a totally new virus that your immune system isn’t equipped to handle turns out to be pure hype.’

A brand new study suggest that ‘immune systems that have previously had contact with flu viruses recognize H1N1 and deal with it the same way, by trying to attack the virus in the bloodstream and in infected cells. That’s why swine flu hasn’t been such a killer—the severity of infections has been about on par with a seasonal flu.’ The disease has not really posed more problems. In fact, some people are even more wary about the side effects of the swine flu vaccine than the disease itself.

According to the study co-author Alessandro Sette, director of the La Jolla Institute’s Center for Infectious Disease, ‘the reason why the swine flu virus — officially designated H1N1 — isn’t the killer it was feared seems to be that the various protective mechanisms of the immune system have been primed by exposure to previous flu viruses.’

Study lead author Bjoern Peters, an assistant member of the division of vaccine discovery at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in La Jolla, California, asserts, “What has been widely reported in the general press is that the swine flu is totally new, so there is no immunity to it. But the severity of infections that have been seen is not greater than usually seen in seasonal flu.”

Peters adds, “They produce antibodies in the bloodstream and try to find the virus before it ends up in cells, so they are what prevents the disease. They recognize the virus inside cells, so they are responsible for clearing the infection once you have it. Nobody knows what level of immunity is sufficient for protection. But if infected, our data suggest that T cells in those who have previously been exposed to influenza may make the infection less severe.”

The study found that ‘69 percent of T cells, which attack the virus in infected cells, were alerted by those previous infections.’ So, the swine flu virus that is said to be sweeping across the globe and claiming many lives isn’t a total stranger to the immune system.

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Via Health Day