Though the industry and the government have pleaded with the media to stop calling H1N1 the “swine flu,” their pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears if you watch the national news. Despite the fact that H1N1 can’t be contracted from consuming pork products the media still refers to the flu by the misnomer, and the pork industry and government feel this is part of the reason the pork industry is struggling so much this year.Now, the farmers are expressing their concerns that their pigs could catch the virus from people who visit their farms or attend county fairs. As Tom Hartsock, a former pig farmer and associate professor emeritus of animal science at the University of Maryland, College Park, states simply in an article for San Luis Obispo Tribune online, pigs are more likely to get the flu from people than the other way around.
One farmer, Ken Bauer, takes every measure he can to prevent his pigs from getting H1N1 from people as they intermingle during animal shows. These measures can include everything from disinfecting shoes before entering the barn to designating houses and vehicles for when the pigs will come into contact with the public and when they won’t. Additionally, many farmers are staying home when they feel they have flu-like symptoms.
According to Hartsock, ‘“Most swine farmers ... were careful about bio-security long before H1N1 became an issue because pigs are subject to a number of contagious diseases that can be carried by humans and also, of course, carried by other pigs. . . just one more in a stream of contagious diseases that could affect swine herds.”’
H1N1 started being referred to as “swine flu” after “early testing found the virus was partly comprised of genetic material from swine influenza,” according to Steven Kappes, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Production and Protection Agency. Despite later test detecting genetic material from the human and avian influenza strains, neither “human flu,” neither “bird flu,” nor H1N1 caught on with the media or the public.
Still, even if pig farmers do fear their animals contracting the H1N1 from humans, this will probably not help the industry recover its market losses.
To read the Tribune article click here.
Posted: 09/29/09
