Swine Flu...Impending pandemic?

[Catwoman]

This looks like a designer bug to me. 

[Diane Amberg]

Are you hearing of more cases where you are? We now have 10 confirmed on UD campus. Two of the elementary schools about 8 miles away have one confirmed case each and have closed for a few days.

[Varmit]

Haven't heard of any around here...yet. 

[sixdogsmom]

Diane, I think that the only cases in Kansas are in Dickinson and Johnson countys; both of which are in the NE part of the state. The first cases were in Dickinson and the two people had been to Mexico. (Ha, I wonder if this flu doesn't translate well?) Just a thought. Anyway we are hearing that this may be receding (hopefully). I also hear there are a couple of cases in Kansas City Mo. which would put all the cases within a rather small area of the state. Many folks here have coughs and sniffles due to the wet conditions. It has been wet for long enough time now that mold is bothering a lot of people including yours truly. I have also been unpacking mold infested boxes from storage getting ready for the auction. 

[Diane Amberg]

We have about 16 more that are ''probable" and being tested. Now I'm hearing that CDC is concerned that this thing may go dormant and then show up again in the winter....I don't know what to think about that.

[Diane Amberg]

I just read an article from firegeezer. Apparently a herd of pigs in Alberta Canada got the Swine flu from their owner who had just come back from Mexico. All were quarantined and are recovering. How funny is that. OK, maybe not, but it tickled me.

[dnalexander]

I just read an article from firegeezer. Apparently a herd of pigs in Alberta Canada got the Swine flu from their owner who had just come back from Mexico. All were quarantined and are recovering. How funny is that. OK, maybe not, but it tickled me.

I hope the pigs don't start an effort to cull humans.

David

Virus transmitted to pigs on Alberta farm

By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Mon. May 4 - 5:41 AM



OTTAWA — Pigs at an Alberta farm caught the same swine flu strain that has sickened hundreds of humans around the world, federal officials said Saturday.
A farmhand who travelled to Mexico and fell ill upon his return apparently infected the pigs with the H1N1 influenza virus, said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer.
"So far, basically what we're seeing in the pig is the same strain as we see in the humans," Butler-Jones said.
"The concern is that if it's circulating in a pig herd, that any other humans that come onto the farm might be exposed and be at risk."
This is the first time this swine flu virus has been found in pigs.
The farm worker returned to Canada from Mexico on April 12 and had contact with the pigs two days later. About 220 pigs in the herd of 2,200 began showing signs of the flu on April 24, said the country's top veterinary officer, Dr. Brian Evans of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
All of the pigs are recovering or have recovered and the farm worker has also recovered.
One other farm worker subsequently fell ill. It's not yet known if that person caught the swine flu.
Bulletins were sent to Alberta pork producers warning them of the possible danger that swine flu could present to their herds on April 24, said Gerald Hauer, the province's chief provincial veterinarian. But by that time, the farm worker was already back from Mexico and on the job at the 2,200-hog operation.
"He was in the barn, doing his work on April 14," Hauer said.
The farmer notified provincial officials that an unspecified number of his animals were showing flu symptoms on April 28. The barn was quarantined later that day and remains under quarantine.
No other area hog barn has been effected. The hogs, said Hauer, are on the mend.
Alberta agriculture minister George Groeneveld said the outbreak shouldn't affect Alberta's export markets.
"Border closures are certainly unwarranted," he said. "We'll see what transpires.
"(The Americans) at this point have no problems with the export of our pork."
Alberta farmers raise about 1.6 million hogs. They exported about 600,000 of them last year, for sales of about $50 million.
Still, Saturday's news was a chilling reminder of the 2003 BSE outbreak, which shut down exports of Canadian cattle for more than a year.
"Food safety is not an issue in this case so hopefully we'll deal with science here and not emotional issues," said Groeneveld.
The virus has shown no signs of mutation when passing from human to pig, Evans said.
"At this point in time, the issue of this being a human virus, having been introduced to the pigs, and the characterization of this virus, shows it is still that virus," he said.
"There's been no adaptation identified through the transfer from humans to pigs at this time."
The herd affected has been placed under quarantine. It's not yet known what will happen to the pigs.
It's common to see influenza in pigs and human transmission to pigs is known to occur, Evans said.
Normally detecting influenza in pigs would not generate a response from food safety officials, but with an international flu outbreak, the current circumstances are different, Evans told a news conference in Ottawa.
"The chance that these pigs could transfer virus to a person is remote," said Evans.
The swine H1N1 virus, a never-before-seen combination of swine, avian and human genes, is believed to have jumped to humans sometime back and has been passing person to person.
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.
Herman Simons, a spokesman for Alberta Pork, a producer's group, said the main worry is the possible effect of the discovery on exports.
"That's our big concern," Simons said. "The biggest concern is it may impact exports of live animals into the U.S."
In 2008, total Canadian pork exports were valued at $2.7 billion, including nearly $527 million worth of Canadian live swine exports.
In a statement, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said met with his American counterpart, who assured him the U.S. will not close its borders to Canadian pork exports.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization dropped the term "swine flu" — a nickname that angered pork producers and led to a drop in pork sales — in favour of its scientific name: "H1N1 influenza A."
Meanwhile, Canada's swine flu caseload swelled Saturday to 85 cases as health officials confirmed a host of new cases in Nova Scotia, Alberta and Quebec.
Public health officials say Nova Scotia has 17 new cases of swine flu, as jurisdictions across Canada are starting to report the widening spread of the illness.
Meanwhile, seven new cases have been reported in Alberta, doubling that province's count to 15.
Two women, one man and a girl became Edmonton's first to come down with the disease. One woman and a boy were also diagnosed with swine flu in northern Alberta. Another woman in Calgary has also come down with the disease.