US - “It’s not currently expected to infect or to create disease in people or pigs,” but vets urge biosecurity vigilance - H5N2

[Pathfinder]

HPAI no threat to pigs, but vets urge biosecurity vigilance

Sunday, May 03, 2015 9:00 AM

CARTHAGE, Ill....

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Hollis is a senior partner with Carthage Veterinary Services and District 5 director on the board of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.
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Hollis said swine vets are urging producers to maintain stepped-up biosecurity in the wake of outbreaks of HPAI H5 strain throughout the upper Midwest and into the Plains and Northern Plains states.

?It?s not currently expected to infect or to create disease in people or pigs,? he said.

Hollis said that while pigs can become infected with influenza virus, at the moment, there is no evidence that herds have contracted the HPAI H5 virus.

?We don?t think it would create clinical disease. We don?t expect clinical disease in people or pigs. But we don?t want to risk any transmission,? he said.
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?Producers should enforce biosecurity. If they are going to use surface water, they should chlorinate it to prevent any possible transmission,? Hollis said.

Flu shots are the norm among those who work with hog herds, to protect everyone and to prevent humans from shedding virus to the pigs they?re around, and Hollis said vaccination of sow herds is encouraged.
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Hollis said farms also should encourage everyone who has contact with pigs to get an annual influenza vaccination.
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http://agrinews-pubs.com/Content/Auction-Calendar/Livestock/Article/HPAI-no-threat-to-pigs-but-vets-urge-biosecurity-vigilance-/15/7/12535

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Where is Avian Flu Hiding?
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By Dina Fine Maron | May 18, 2015
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Will it infect humans?

So far, the three flu strains seem to be sticking to birds. The virus has not yet been detected in humans and public health officials say it?s unlikely the virus will make the leap. That judgment is based on experience with similar H5 strains and the lack of human cases from this outbreak so far, says Joni Scheftel, state public health veterinarian at the Minnesota Department of Health. Moreover, if a person was infected with the virus after working closely with a sick bird, experience suggests the virus would still be unlikely to be passed between humans, she says. In order for the virus to make that leap to humans at all a number of changes in the virus would need to take place.

Simply put, H5 avian flu is tailor-made for birds. In the human respiratory tract there are receptors that are well suited for seasonal flu, making it easy to contract. Avian flu requires different receptors, which are common in birds. ?We do have some of the type of receptors that avian flu can latch onto but we don?t have a lot of them,? says Michael Jhung, a medical officer with U.S. Centers for Disease Control?s Influenza Division. The nightmare scenario, however, would be if pigs contracted the avian flu, because they have both the seasonal flu and avian flu receptors. ?If pigs got infected with seasonal influenza virus and avian influenza virus at the same time, the viruses could mix. That?s called reassortment,? he says. Then, if the subsequent virus has genes that code for human receptors, it could be more transmissible to and between people. So far, however, there have been no reports of the flu or elevated levels of sickness in pigs.
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-is-avian-flu-hiding/

[Pathfinder]

Bird flu's cause, end still unknown

Experts: Virus not behaving as expected

Orlan Love, The Gazette
MAY 31, 2015 | 2:00 AM

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?That?s a real concern? that the latest iteration of highly pathogenic bird flu could affect humans, said Michael Osterholm, director of the university?s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

?The hog industry could spin out a new virus,? said Osterholm, who has been engaged in efforts to control the spread of the disease that has hit Iowa much harder than any of the other 15 affected states.

Osterholm said he and other experts worry that H5N2 could ?reassort? with other viruses in the lungs of pigs and emerge as a new virus that could affect the health of humans.

?While there is always a chance of influenza viruses reassorting, there is no indication that this virus is likely to do so,? said Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the USDA?s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the lead federal agency in the effort to halt the spread of the disease.

Osterholm said the lungs of swine, which densely populate the Upper Midwest region most affected by highly pathogenic bird flu, are ?special? in that they can simultaneously host two different influenza viruses.

As the two virus strains replicate in the host, they can swap genetic material ? with the possibility of a new bird flu virus able to infect mammals, including humans, he said.
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http://thegazette.com/subject/news/bird-flus-cause-end-still-unknown-20150531

[Pathfinder]

Osterholm said the lungs of swine, which densely populate the Upper Midwest region most affected by highly pathogenic bird flu, are ?special? in that they can simultaneously host two different influenza viruses.
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[url]http://thegazette.com/subject/news/bird-flus-cause-end-still-unknown-20150531

Industry Size, Value, and Location

Hog and pig sales were $4.4 billion, or 24.6 percent, higher in 2012 than 2007, when the agriculture census was last conducted. Iowa had the largest increase in sales (up $1.9 billion), followed by Minnesota (up $0.6 billion) and Illinois (up $0.4 billion). North Carolina experienced a decline of $231 million in sales, but remained the second largest producer.
The top three producers – Iowa, North Carolina, and Minnesota – together accounted for 55 percent of the value of U.S. hog and pig sales and 56 percent of the 66 million hog and pig end-of-year inventory in 2012.
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http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/Highlights/Hog_and_Pig_Farming/#industry

[Pathfinder]

Bird flu raises fears over vaccine supply, human risk

By Philip Brasher
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WASHINGTON, June 29, 2015 - Lawmakers are raising concerns that the avian influenza outbreak that has devastated Midwest poultry producers could threaten supplies of human vaccines and possibly spread to people through swine.
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?The current sub-types of avian influenza do not appear to infect humans, but there is concern they could affect swine, which have spread avian influenza to humans in the past,? the lawmakers say in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services. They also want to know what the government is doing to develop vaccines against the virus.
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http://www.agri-pulse.com/Bird-flu-worries-lawmakers-06292015.asp