Porcine Press Special Update – What’s This Swine Flu Mean to Hog Hunters?
You can’t turn on the news right now without hearing about this flu outbreak that’s killed over 60 people in Mexico City. There have also been eight cases in the US, although all of these individuals recovered. The virus is being referred to by the press as a Swine flu, but studies so far have shown that it’s most likely a combination of four influenza strains, including two types of Swine Influenza, Avian (Bird) Influenza, and a strain of human influenza.
So some folks may be thinking, “Swine… as in pigs?”
Well, yes, there is a porcine link here, as pigs are known to be carriers of this particular virus. They’re also known carriers of several other viruses, including the so-called “bird flu”. But what does this have to do with wild hogs, or hog hunting?
Short answer… at this point, nothing.
As of right now, there’s only a nominative link between swine flu and either wild or domestic hogs. Besides the fact that the swine flu virus may have originated in pigs, nothing that is currently being reported indicates that pig hunters or farmers are at any kind of increased risk of infection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning that this new virus has significant pandemic potential (which means the virus may have spread from animals to humans), although research is still in progress. Here is the most current press release from WHO regarding what they’re still calling an “influenza-like illness” (ILI).
Influenza-like illness in the United States and Mexico
24 April 2009 — The United States Government has reported seven confirmed human cases of Swine Influenza A/H1N1 in the USA (five in California and two in Texas) and nine suspect cases. All seven confirmed cases had mild Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), with only one requiring brief hospitalization. No deaths have been reported.
The Government of Mexico has reported three separate events. In the Federal District of Mexico, surveillance began picking up cases of ILI starting 18 March. The number of cases has risen steadily through April and as of 23 April there are now more than 854 cases of pneumonia from the capital. Of those, 59 have died. In San Luis Potosi, in central Mexico, 24 cases of ILI, with three deaths, have been reported. And from Mexicali, near the border with the United States, four cases of ILI, with no deaths, have been reported.
Of the Mexican cases, 18 have been laboratory confirmed in Canada as Swine Influenza A/H1N1, while 12 of those are genetically identical to the Swine Influenza A/H1N1 viruses from California.
The majority of these cases have occurred in otherwise healthy young adults. Influenza normally affects the very young and the very old, but these age groups have not been heavily affected in Mexico.
Because there are human cases associated with an animal influenza virus, and because of the geographical spread of multiple community outbreaks, plus the somewhat unusual age groups affected, these events are of high concern.
The Swine Influenza A/H1N1 viruses characterized in this outbreak have not been previously detected in pigs or humans. The viruses so far characterized have been sensitive to oseltamivir, but resistant to both amantadine and rimantadine.
The World Health Organization has been in constant contact with the health authorities in the United States, Mexico and Canada in order to better understand the risk which these ILI events pose. WHO (and PAHO) is sending missions of experts to Mexico to work with health authorities there. It is helping its Member States to increase field epidemiology activities, laboratory diagnosis and clinical management. Moreover, WHO’s partners in the Global Alert and Response Network have been alerted and are ready to assist as requested by the Member States.
WHO acknowledges the United States and Mexico for their proactive reporting and their collaboration with WHO and will continue to work with Member States to further characterize the outbreak.
To bring this back to hogs and hog hunting… while it’s always important to be careful and health-conscious when working with hogs and their carcasses, this new flu outbreak really doesn’t seem to have any significant relationship to hog hunters.
However, remember the big “Bird Flu” hysteria, and the fear that migrating waterfowl might be spreading the disease across the world. This one has the potential to turn into the same kind of thing. Here at the Hog Blog, I’ll be keeping one eye on this one as it develops, and hopefully we can avoid getting wrapped up in an unnecessary panic by arming ourselves with the facts and a little common sense.
[...] Original post by The Hog Blog [...]
April 25th, 2009 at 10:12 am
[...] Original post by The Hog Blog [...]
April 25th, 2009 at 11:32 am
[...] Porcine Press Special Update – What's This Swine Flu Mean to Hog … [...]
April 25th, 2009 at 11:38 am
if the Swine Flu is anything like the other scares and outbreaks in the US, it shouldn’t amount to much (I’m hoping anyway)
April 26th, 2009 at 1:07 am
I agree!
Most people will get (Internet Panicked) over the simplest of concerns and then amplify that panic when they send out their e-mail blasts.
The Swine flu reared its ugly head back in 1918 when (before the internet of course) it was rumored that our government was experimenting with an actual Swine virus combined with an Avian virus to create a lethal cocktail of sorts for germ warfare.
There are people now who are perpetuating those very same rumors, that the virus is now being used as a scare tactic to compel the worlds populace to line up for mandatory inoculations (of who knows what) against it.
Then of course comes the F.E.M.A. controlled camps etc. etc.
All of this conspiracy theory rhetoric really gives me a monster headache which will ultimately be what actually kills me.
April 26th, 2009 at 7:32 am
This is a tricky one.
It’s easy to pooh-pooh, particularly in light of SARS, Bird Flu, and other epidemics that really turned out to be pretty minor in the big picture.
But at the same time, you can’t turn your back on it. You have to keep your eyes open.
The whole thing reminds me of lessons learned from living in the hurricane zone. The media generates this intensive hysteria every time a cloud starts to swirl, and most of the time it turns out to be just another storm. But the moment folks get complacent, you get another Hurricane Andrew situation.
Common sense and vigilance… there’s really not much else we can do anyway.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:54 am
I’m right there with you on this one, Phillip. I’m cautious, but I’m not alarmed whatsoever. If you listened to the media, though, you’d think that this flu is going to wipe all of us off the map in a matter of days.
April 27th, 2009 at 1:56 pm