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Australia: Flu kills 40 pigs at a Kingaroy piggery - H1N2 (?) reported
Re: Australia: Flu kills 40 pigs at a Kingaroy piggery
Not many details in that story, such as why a human strain is suspected, let alone what strain. Also, is this a huge farm where 40 deaths would be a minor loss?
The study below found that pH1N1 is unlikely to cause high mortality in pigs unless they are ill with another disease to begin with:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22865115 Vet Rec. 2012 Aug 4. [Epub ahead of print]
Descriptive clinical and epidemiological characteristics of influenza A H1N1 2009 virus infections in pigs in England.
I found, (ETA: Actually Ronan had already reported this death here), a seemingly unusual, (unless some risk factor is missing and there could be), death in a young woman who lived less than 200 miles from the pig farm:
Jordan Philp | 7th September 2012 1:25 PM
A PIGGERY at Kingaroy is in lockdown.
The piggery was placed under a full quarantine after a foreign virus was detected in its pigs two weeks ago.
The outbreak is the first confirmed report of Influenza A in pigs in the South Burnett.
[snip] "About 10% of a group of 400 pigs have died after showing respiratory signs," they said...
So that sounds like a high death rate, though I'm no ag expert. At least we know how many pigs are at the farm vs how many died. I've heard of bad outcomes when a swine flu killed vaccine is a mismatch with a strain that evolved enough to cause the original antigenic sin phenomenon, but they don't say that happened here.
It's just hard to imagine any of the known strains of human flu doing this to pigs. I wonder if they are 100% certain it was human. Could it be derived from another species? The second article just says it was a foreign virus.
Last edited by Emily; September 7, 2012, 02:08 AM.
Reason: Added ETA and link to Ronan's thread
"...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party
(My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.) Never forget Excalibur.
Hemagglutinin protein of Asian strains of human influenza virus A H1N1 binds to sialic acid - a major component of human airway receptors
K.H. Chua1 and H.C. Chai2
1Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2School of Medicine and Health Sciences,
Monash University, Sunway Campus, Selangor, Malaysia
Corresponding author: K.H. Chua
Genet. Mol. Res. 11 (1): 636-643 (2012)
Received March 21, 2011
Accepted October 27, 2011
Published March 16, 2012
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.4238/2012.March.16.1
[snip]
Both avian and human-like SAs are present in pig respiratory
epithelium and can be infected with both human and avian influenza viruses. Thus, pig becomes the ?mixing vessel? where reassortment of avian and human viruses can take place, potentially leading to the emergence of novel influenza strains and causing pandemics (Ito et al., 1998). A very good example of this situation is the currently occurring swine influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, whereby the speed of transmission and fatality number of the infection are considerably alarming. Overall, the HA protein of influenza A (H1N1) virus can bind to human SA and lead to infection. No major mutation was observed in the HA sequence among viruses isolated from Asian patients during this outbreak.
"...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party
(My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.) Never forget Excalibur.
Influenza in pigs is like influenza in humans … it’s a regular occurrence, and although it needs to be managed, there’s no need to fear pork or pork products.
That’s the message this afternoon from John Coward, a pork industry veteran and current president of industry group Queensland Pork Inc.
A Biosecurity Queensland spokesman confirmed today that a commercial piggery near Kingaroy had been quarantined as a precaution after a higher number of deaths than usual occurred in a group of pigs.
These deaths have been linked to Influenza A and bacterial infections.
The piggery is a “farrow to finish” breeding property with about 400 animals.
“Unfortunately it gets a bit sensationalised when someone says ‘quarantine’,” Mr Coward told southburnett.com.au
“Influenza is a regular occurrence, year in and year out, particularly at winter time, aligned to what you see in the workplace.
“Quarantine is only a simple way of managing it on the farm.”
Mr Coward said it was important to emphasise that only healthy pigs go to slaughter, and there is no risk of anyone getting sick from eating pork or pork products.
He said the pigs possibly caught the flu, which had been identified as the H1N2 variety, from a worker. [But there IS NO H1N2 flu circulating in humans! - alert]
“It’s not an exotic disease; it’s a normal occurrence,” Mr Coward said.
“However the industry takes a very pro-active stance designed to limit its spread to other pigs. All pigs are kept under treatment until well.”
Biosecurity Queensland had taken blood samples at the piggery and had left strict instructions on how the animals were to be managed.
Inspectors from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry were also undertaking regular checks.
Mr Coward said pigs cannot be sent to slaughter until they have shown no symptoms for seven days, and they cannot be sent to other piggeries.
A statement from Biosecurity Queensland said about 40 pigs had died at the piggery after showing respiratory signs.
Other groups of pigs on the property were healthy.
“Influenza A in pigs can be caught from people and then spread among the pigs. There is no evidence that the workers on the piggery have caught anything from the pigs,” the Biosecurity Queensland spokesman said.
It's tough to tell what this is. There is no H1N2 flu circulating in humans, and neither human flu nor swine flu typically kills large numbers of pigs.
Does the article mean to say H1N1 or H3N2? Or are they implying that some kind of reassortment between human and swine viruses has just occured (either 2009 H1N1 with swine H3N2 or seasonal H3N2 with swine H1N1)?
Piggeries on flu alert By Eliza RogersFriday, 7 September 2012
A Kingaroy piggery has been quarantined after a flu outbreak.
Forty pigs have died and more are in lockdown after the outbreak of Influenza A at a commercial piggery in Kingaroy.
It's believed a secondary bacterial infection is to blame and the 400-head facility has been quarantined by Biosecurity Queensland.
Officials say the disease is traditionally passed from humans to pigs, and there is no evidence workers have caught anything from the animals.
Despite the quarantine, healthy pigs from the facility are still being sent to slaughter.
A small number of sick pigs are treated.
Biosecurity Queensland say there is no risk eating pork.
Queensland Chief Vet Rick Symons says the young pigs had been ill for some time - but he says it's certainly not swine flu.
President of Pork Queensland John Coward agrees the outbreak is normal for this time of year.
He says there have been more cases interstate but not in Queensland, but that it's important to be prepared.
Bruce Trout runs a pig breeding unit outside Kingaroy.
He says the flu could pass through to other operations.
Piggeries are urged to make sure workers are vaccinated against the flu, maintain a high level of hygiene, and minimise access of wild birds to water and feed.
"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much." - Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Re: Australia: Flu kills 40 pigs at a Kingaroy piggery - H1N2 (?) reported
The reporting here is murky, perhaps intentionally so. Of course it's "swine flu", it's influenza in swine! Do they mean to say it's not the 2009 Pandemic swine flu? Or are they implying it's an avian or human virus in swine, and not a swine-origin virus? Only a precise genetic description of the influenza virus involved will tell us its origins.
We still have no confirmation of the report that the virus belong to the H1N2 subtype.
The mention of a "secondary bacterial infection" as well, as is often noted in human influenza fatalities, is also odd. One thinks of the ordinary human bacterial culprits such as staph, but in swine in this region of the world, something exotic like S. suis cannot be ruled out without testing, espcially considering the high number of fatalities.
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