I will try to answer your questions, keep in mind, that I am NO expert.

“How did the virus spread over to humans… from pigs?”

Viruses are wretched microscopic things that are laying around and are technically neither completely alive nor dead. Weird, huh? They are just pieces of genetic code in the form of RNA or DNA and enveloped in a protein coat, sometimes, they also have a fat coat. Viruses are only truly “alive” when they infect a host organism and replicate. There are thousands of different viruses and some look really scary (like T4 phage). Viruses tend to be about 10-100 times smaller than bacteria! These little guys are usually loyal to the host organism that it likes to infect, in this case, the “swine influenza virus” used to just affect herds of swine. What happened is that since viruses continuously mutate, the viral genetic material underwent recombination with viral genetic material from bird and human influenza strains. The surface protein structures of viruses, or antigens, are different for each strain, and with H1N1, you have something entirely new that your immune system has not seen before (3 different antigens in 1)! Hence, the danger. As a “new” virus, it has the ability to jump host species and now be more lethal to humans than swines. So, now, what didn’t use to affect us, does. It appears to have become more loyal to us.

“What do YOU think we should do to solve the crisis?”

Containment is no longer an option. A vaccine is currently underway, but the time line is about 4-6 months. For the moment, I would place CDC teams with enough antiviral meds at key intervals all across the US/Mexico border (southwestern states) and in the major US cities. If things get really, really bad in Mexico, we should close the border. I think everything will be okay, however. On another note, what about countries that are much poorer than Mexico, like Vietnam, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Nicaragua? They have little to zero antiviral medicine. If it does become a pandemic (level 6), the countries most devastated will be countries in poverty. Hoffmann-La Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other pharmaceuticals need to mass produce more antiviral medication 24/7 with emergency funding from the World Bank.

–How did the virus spread over to humans… from pigs?

–What do YOU think we should do to solve the crisis?

And last of all…. http://www.doihavepigflu.com/. I couldn’t resist.

look oscar this web page may work for your topic:::
http://www.eltiempo.com/media/produccion/infoGripePorcia_AFP/index1.html

The threat of home aside, if WHO raises the alert to level 6, I am also worried about the poorest countries, as they do not have supplies of Tamiflu and Relenza.

I also try to remain optimistic. I learned from the avian flu outbreak years back that the media blows things out of proportion to raise their TV ratings. However, when the World Health Organization raises the pandemic alert to level 5 (human-to-human transmission in at least 2 countries), it demands our attention and caution. The maximum is level 6, when a full blown pandemic is underway worldwide.

What bothers me is the speed at which it is spreading globally. USA, Canada, Spain, UK, New Zealand, Israel, etc.
Just today, a 23 month old baby died due to swine flu here in Houston.
This virus appears to have genetic elements of avian flu, human flu, and swine flu neatly rolled into one, meaning that strains combined (something called antigenic shift).

Mexico is a strong country compared to other nations. India and Mexico always battle for the 12th and 13th spot in terms of GDP on the lists of the CIA World Factbook and the International Monetary Fund. Mexico does have good doctors but their government does not invest in research and development. Take this excerpt from “El Universal”, one of Mexico’s top daily prints:

“We are incapable of dealing with this crisis ourselves, not because of a lack of leadership or determination, but because we’ve failed for decades to invest in universities, laboratories and scientists. Let’s learn the lesson.”

The problem can no longer be contained at this stage. My parents are currently in Mexico, nowhere near the outbreak, but scared enough to return by tomorrow. Their vacations were canceled.