Canada: Farm worker with H1N1 may have infected pigs on Alberta farm

[Jeremy]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...hub=TopStories

Health authorities say the H1N1 flu may have jumped from a farm worker to pigs in Alberta, in what could be the first case of human-to-animal transmission of the virus.


CTV News has confirmed that authorities believe the worker had returned to the farm from Mexico after contracting the disease, which was then passed on to the animals.


Dr. Neil Rau, an infectious diseases specialist, said the latest twist -- if true -- may not signal any added danger to humans.


"We know that eating pork is not the way in which we get this virus," he told CTV Newsnet. "All of the cases have been person-to-person transmissions, so even if this virus is in pigs, in terms of an immediate risk we have nothing to worry about."


But he urged long-term surveillance of pigs and other livestock, "to make sure something different isn't going on."


Scientists believe the H1N1 virus, or so-called "swine flu," has been passed from human to human for some time. But even though the virus contains swine flu genes, the World Health Organization says there is no evidence pigs are passing the disease to humans.


Canadian health authorities say the virus found in the Alberta pigs is the same strain of H1N1 found in human cases around the world.
Developing story...

[AlaskaDenise]

Canada: 1st pigs found with new swine flu virus
By CHARMAINE NORONHA – 34 minutes ago

OTTAWA (AP) — Pigs on a Canadian farm have been infected with the new swine flu virus — apparently by a farm worker back from Mexico — and are under quarantine, officials said Saturday. It is the first known case of pigs having the virus.

But officials quickly urged caution. Swine flu regularly causes outbreaks in pigs and the pigs do not pose a food safety risk, Dr. Brian Evans, executive vice president with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, told a news conference.

The officials said the pigs in the province of Alberta were thought to be infected by a Canadian farm worker who recently visited Mexico and got sick after returning to Canada.

The traveler has recovered, and the estimated 200 sickened pigs are recovering as well, officials said. No pigs have died, and officials said they don't think the flu has spread beyond the farm.

Normally, detecting influenza in pigs would not generate a response from food safety officials, but the current circumstances are different with the international flu outbreak, Evans said.

"The chance that these pigs could transfer virus to a person is remote," he said, adding that he would have no issue eating pork from the infected pigs.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Canada has taken the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. He said there have been no reports of the virus in U.S. pigs and noted the sick Canadian swine have been quarantined.

"This detection does not change the situation here in the United States," he said.

The World Health Organization has insisted there is no evidence that pigs are passing the virus to humans, or that eating pork products poses an infection risk.

The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture and World Health Organization, along with the WTO and the World Organization for Animal Health, issued a joint statement Saturday saying there's no justification for any anti-pork trade measures as a result of the swine flu epidemic since there is no evidence the virus is spread by food.

The statement was the most emphatic yet from the United Nations and other agencies on the issue.

The statement came after major American pork importers like Russia and China banned pork products from certain U.S. states as the new swine flu spread. Indonesia, Ukraine and the Philippines and Serbia have banned certain pork products from the entire country.

Canadian officials called such measures unwarranted.

The pigs in Alberta were thought to be infected by a farm worker who returned from Mexico on April 12 and began working on the farm two days later. Officials noticed the pigs had flu-like symptoms April 24, Evans said.

Approximately 10 percent of the 2,200 pigs on the farm have been infected, Evans said.

Officials said the pigs were likely infected in the same manner as humans worldwide, and that the virus is acting no differently in the pigs than other swine flu viruses.

"Whatever virus these pigs were exposed to is behaving in that exact manner as those we regularly see circulating in North America and in swine herds in virtually every nation around the world," Evans said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studies have shown that swine flu is common throughout pig populations worldwide, with 25 percent of animals showing antibody evidence of infection.

The new virus has shown no signs of mutation when passing from human to pig, Evans said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...Zl0jgD97UGJB80

[Treyfish]

H1N1 flu found in Canadian pig herd
03 May 2009 03:06:13 GMT
Source: Reuters

* Pigs got virus from person infected in Mexico
* Canadian agency downplays health threat
* U.S. food supply unaffected, pork safe to eat - Vilsack (Adds U.S. Agriculture Secretary statement, background)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 2 (Reuters) - Canadian health officials said on Saturday they found the new H1N1 flu virus in a swine herd in the province of Alberta but that there was no threat to the food supply.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the herd in the western Canadian province apparently caught the virus from a human who traveled recently to Mexico, the epicenter of a swine flu outbreak that has spread to 18 countries and may have killed more than 100 people, all but one in Mexico.
It was the first time the agency had reported a case of the virus being transmitted from a human to a pig in Canada.
The agency said the infected herd was quarantined pending more testing, "but that the chances the pigs could transfer the virus to humans was remote."
"The safety of the food supply is not affected and Canadian pork continues to be safe to eat," it added.
It said all the infected pigs had recovered or were recovering.
Canada has had more than 70 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in humans, all mild and involving recent travelers to Mexico or those who had contact with others who had been in the Latin American nation.
Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Canada was talking with its trading partners, adding that U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had assured him Canada would continue to have access to the American market.
"We will continue to work with our American partners as we deal with this issue," Ritz said in a statement.
"The case identified in Alberta is entirely contained. There is no threat to human or animal health," Ritz said.
Vilsack downplayed the impact of the Canadian outbreak on the United States, noting there had been no reports of infections in U.S. pigs and that pork and pork products were safe to eat.
"Canada has handled this situation appropriately and taken the necessary steps and precautions," Vilsack said in a statement later on Saturday. He said U.S. officials would continue to monitor the situation.
FARMERS VOICE CONCERN
But Canadian farmers expressed concerns that more of the country's trading partners might impose restrictions on pork.
The Philippines, El Salvador, Honduras and Ukraine have stopped accepting Canadian pork since the H1N1 scare. South Korea is not accepting live hogs.
"What's happened here is what we feared," Jurgen Preugschas, an Alberta hog farmer and president of the Canadian Pork Council, said when asked about the impact of the swine herd infection.
"Ultimately it shouldn't affect the industry long-term. It's all perception. The meat is safe. (But) it's going to be a lot of hype in the short term."
Flu viruses do not affect the safety of pork, according to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which warned on Saturday against imposing trade restrictions on pig or pig products.
The Philippines, El Salvador, Honduras and Ukraine already have stopped accepting Canadian pork since the H1N1 cases were identified in Canada, while South Korea is not accepting live hogs.
The World Health Organization on Thursday changed the name of the strain from "swine flu" to A-H1N1 to reflect the fact the virus was spreading between humans and not in pigs. The Geneva-based agency was also under intense pressure from the pork industry, including Canadian farmers, to change the name. (Reporting Allan Dowd in Vancouver and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Paul Simao and Peter Cooney) http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02360617.htm

[HenryN]

Commentary

[AlaskaDenise]

Originally Posted by niman

Commentary

Commentary

Swine H1N1 Transmision From Human to Swine

Recombinomics Commentary 07:10
June 3, 2009

The pigs in Alberta were thought to be infected by a farm worker who returned from Mexico on April 12 and began working on the farm two days later. Officials noticed the pigs had flu-like symptoms April 24, Evans said.

Approximately 10 percent of the 2,200 pigs on the farm have been infected, Evans said.

The above comments describe the transmission of the H1N1 swine flu from an infected farm worker to swine in Alberta, Canada. This efficient transmission from human to swine suggests that much of the speculation in the past week is overly optimistic.

The virus is swine, WHO newspeak notwithstanding, and contains six swine gene segments as well as a human PB1 and an avian PB2 that have been in swine for more than a decade. Therefore, although swine to swine transmission is not unexpected, the transmission from human to swine is striking. The H1N1 is called swine H1N1 for scientific reason. It is not a “nickname” as some media accounts mis-report, but a descriptive name that defines its normal host. The species differences in sequence are easily determined, and species jumps are rare, but can be deadly. Usually the virus replicates most effectively in its host species.

The jump to humans is cause for concern. The last time as swine flu jumped to human and was efficiently spread in the new host was in 1918.

The fact that the virus can jump from human to swine as well as swine to humans suggests this virus is not going to fade away. It has already moved into the southern hemisphere. Suspect cases have been reported in Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand, where the seasonal flu season is just beginning.

Co-circulation of human and swine H1N1 provide significant opportunities for adaptation to the human host via recombination. Two polymorphisms are already fixed in seasonal flu, H274Y for Tamiflu resistance, and E627K in PB2 which allows the virus to more efficiently replicate at lower temperatures.

These changes can lead to adaptation in humans, as well antiviral resistance. Therefore, the evolution of the H1N1 over the summer will be closely monitored. The current H1N1 has already acquired tandem human H1N1 polymorphism in HA, which may have led to the species jump from swine to human.

Thus, the efficient transmission from swine to human and vice versa, raises concerns that further adaptation to humans can lead to a fall pandemic similar to 1918. The species jump indicates the virus can adapt to a new host, and additional acquisitions over the summer continue to be a cause for concern.

.

[AlaskaDenise]

tandem human H1N1 polymorphism in HA

What is a tandem human polymorphism and why would it lead to a species jump?

.

[Treyfish]

Swine Flu in Canadian Hogs Confirmed by World Agency (Update1)

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By Robert T. Greene
May 3 (Bloomberg) -- The flu virus found in Canadian pigs is no different from the new swine-flu virus being tracked in humans, the World Health Organization said today in Geneva.
The animals are recovering, along with a farm worker, the agency said today on a conference call with reporters, saying the human-to-beast transmission was “no big surprise.”
The organization said there was no need to cull herds anywhere in the world.
Last Updated: May 3, 2009 11:14 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...fer=healthcare

[Treyfish]

May 3, 2009


Alberta incident raises prospect of swine flu mutation

The infection of pigs with swine flu does not by itself pose a threat to human health.
Though nervousness about the virus has prompted several countries, including Russia and China, to restrict pork inputs from affected nations, and Egypt is slaughtering its entire pig herd, there is little evidence that it can be passed on through the food chain.
The influenza virus is very efficently killed by heat, and the World Health Organisation advises that so long as pork, bacon and ham are properly handled and thoroughly cooked, there is no danger.
It has also said that import bans and preventative slaughter are unnecessary, and even changed the offical name of the virus to influenza A (H1N1) to try to reassure people that it was not being spread by pigs.
While genetic analysis indicates that both the viruses that gave rise to H1N1 originated in swine, and thus that they were almost certainly mixed in a co-infected pig, no pigs that carried it had been identified before the Alberta incident.
The cross back to pigs raises some concern because it could create a fresh opportunity for the virus to evolve in new and potentially unpleasant ways.
When any animal becomes infected with two different influenza strains at the same time, these can swap genes to create an entirely new virus with unpredictable qualities.
This process, known as reassortment or antigenic shift, gave rise to the new swine flu strain, and a sustained spread to pigs could increase the chances of another such mutation arising. This sort of evolution, however, could also occur in a human host infected with, for example, both swine flu and a seasonal flu strain.
The biggest worry would be if a person or a pig became infected with both swine flu and H5N1 avian flu at the same time. As the former is highly transmissible but does not appear to be particularly lethal, while the latter is highly virulent but does not spread easily, a reassortment between the two could generate a very dangerous strain. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6215581.ece

[ytivarg]

According to this article, more than 10% of pigs in Indonesia are infected with H5N1.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national...30TDY02302.htm

We can clearly see from this incident in Canada that it is just a matter of time before the new H1N1 is pandemic in Indonesia pigs. Isn't this the biggest worry of all time, a possible recombination of H5N1 and the new H1N1 in Indonesian pigs?

[sharon sanders]

Welcome Ytivarg!

[AlaskaDenise]

Welcome ytivarg.

Originally Posted by ytivarg

..... the new H1N1 is pandemic in Indonesia pigs. Isn't this the biggest worry of all time, a possible recombination of H5N1 and the new H1N1 in Indonesian pigs?

Yes, I believe many are concerned about the recombination between H5N1 and any influenza easily transmitted to humans- H1N1, H3N2, etc.

This may (personal speculation) be one of the reasons behind the Cairo pig slaughter.

The first pig anywhere that has a dual SF+other flu infection, should be an interesting test.

.

[ytivarg]

That does seem to be the only context in which the Cairo pig slaughter makes sense.

It seems like we are just 2-3 months, maybe even just weeks, away from a possible recombination of swine flu and H5N1 in pigs in Indonesia.

Thanks for welcoming me and for the input.

[vinny]

Has there been any news on weather it has reached indonesia yet.

[ironorehopper]

Originally Posted by ytivarg

That does seem to be the only context in which the Cairo pig slaughter makes sense.

It seems like we are just 2-3 months, maybe even just weeks, away from a possible recombination of swine flu and H5N1 in pigs in Indonesia.

Thanks for welcoming me and for the input.

Impotence of network surveillance cannot be confounded with a presumptive omnipotence of this novel influenza H1N1 virus.

If not, if the story is already written, if the HXNX virus is coming with a CFR of 60%, well we may stop to go here and gather our beloved to last days in peace.

The things are being manipulated in a way that disgust me.

[ytivarg]

Originally Posted by vinny

Has there been any news on weather it has reached indonesia yet.

Seems like no suspected cases of swine flu in Indonesia yet, but when you start reading about it in the news make sure you are prepared for the worst.