USDA expects swine flu to hit US herds this flu season, seeks to get vaccine produced

[Treyfish]

Associated Press
09/10/09 11:15 AM PDT


WASHINGTON ? The U.S. government expects swine flu to reach domestic pigs this year, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking to speed a hog vaccine.
Producers are being asked to follow protocols such as reporting cases to veterinarians or the government, removing affected swine from their herds and avoiding contact with infected animals.
The USDA has given several animal vaccine manufacturers the "master seed virus" from the swine flu strain now circulating among humans.
Scientists have said humans cannot contract swine flu by eating pork, which the USDA representatives reiterated on Thursday.
"We expect that influenza H1N1 will hit our swine herds, and that's why we're making the preparations that we're making," Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan told reporters on a conference call Thursday.
Pigs can get influenza just like humans do, said Dr. John Clifford, chief veterinarian for the USDA's animal-health division. They typically recover and have few deaths. So far,:magnify: H1N1 infections of swine herds have been reported in Canada, Australia and Argentina, he said, but not the U.S., yet.
"We are saying to producers and to their veterinarians when pigs are sick with influenza, they should recover before they should be moved to other facilities or to slaughter," he said. "Then they're perfectly healthy and fine to move on."
The animals will be safe to slaughter and be eaten, he said.
Clifford said the USDA will help investigate cases where humans may have come into contact with affected pigs.
Producers have been concerned that an outbreak would hurt the already-struggling pork industry. Producers have been hit by record high feed costs last year and slower exports as foreign countries like China limit their U.S. pork purchases due to concerns about swine flu.:tiphat:http://www.sfexaminer.com/economy/ap/58519822.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: USDA expects swine flu to hit US herds this flu season, seeks to get vaccine produced

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>U.S. pigs avoiding swine flu so far, ag officials say



<TD class=p-table vAlign=top border="0">Matt McKinney
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>September 10, 2009 3:51 PM
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
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-->(MCT)
MINNEAPOLIS - No pig in the United States has come down with swine flu, but some will by the end of the year in an outbreak expected to slap hog farmers with production losses amid an already difficult year, USDA officials said Thursday. The H1N1 virus could even be spread to pigs by a sickened person, an ironic twist on fears that wracked the nation earlier this year when ''swine flu'' had consumers shying away from pork.
Pork from a pig sickened by H1N1 does not pose a health threat to consumers, the officials said. But an outbreak of H1N1 in a farmer's herd would likely cut into profits by slowing the animal's growth, said Kenneth Petersen, an assistant administrator with the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
U.S. farmers have long used flu vaccines to beat back other flu varieties, with 58 million doses of vaccine injected into animals last year.
Contrary to popular opinion, the H1N1 flu virus does not come from pigs. The H1N1 virus itself is a combination of avian influenza, human influenza and swine influenza. Early tests of the virus detected only the swine influenza portion.
The USDA said it has contracted five companies to develop an H1N1 vaccine for hogs. The virus has been found so far in pigs in Australia, Canada and Argentina. :tiphat:edit "and Indonesia"

''We're ready,'' deputy secretary of the USDA Kathleen Merrigan told reporters on a conference call Thursday morning.
:tiphat:http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=BUSINESS&ID=565647437966213399
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