Monday, May 4, 2009

FIRST pigs found with new swine flu virus‏


This headline was tripy to me because apparently a human has given it to pigs!


Basically a farmer worker returned to a Canadian farm that had been infected with the new swine flue virus gave it to the pigs (first known case of humans transferring to pigs). They're all in quarantine. No pigs have died, and officials said they don't think the flu has spread beyond the farm.


U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Canada has taken the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. He said there have been no reports of the virus in U.S. pigs and noted the sick Canadian swine have been quarantined.


"This detection does not change the situation here in the United States," he said.
The World Health Organization has insisted there is no evidence that pigs are passing the virus to humans, or that eating pork products poses an infection risk.

The statement came after major American pork importers like Russia and China banned pork products from certain U.S. states as the new swine flu spread. Indonesia, Ukraine and the Philippines and Serbia have banned certain pork products from the entire country.
Canadian officials called such measures unwarranted.


The new virus has shown no signs of mutation when passing from human to pig, Evans said.

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