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Understanding influenza in swine and humans
Since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic there has been heightened awareness about illnesses in both swine and humans. The recent reported cases of a variant of the H3N2 virus in Ohio, Indiana, and Hawaii have the Centers for Disease Control, the veterinarian community, and the pork industry working together with the best interest of human and swine health in mind.
Dr. James Lowe, veterinarian with Lowe Consulting says currently we have not seen transmission from people to people – and the CDC has been very clear about that message (click HERE for a link Friday’s release form the CDC).
But he says we do commonly see transmission of viruses from people to pigs and from pigs to people. “This happens all the time – it probably is not cause for any alarm or concern of a pandemic,” he says. “But, good for us for doing surveillance, even though we know a lot about influenza – there is still a tremendous amount we don’t know.” This is an opportunity, he notes, to understand what happens – and minimize the health risk to both humans and swine.
Lowe tells Brownfield good hygiene is an easy way to prevent transmission. “Whether we’re talking about spreading flu from person to person, from pig to pig, from people to pigs, or from pigs to people – it’s about washing our hands and making sure we don’t touch our nose,” he says. “A lot of times we can get it (the virus) on our hands and we touch our nose and that’s a really common way we transmit the flu virus.”
For more information and to hear additional comments from Dr. Lowe – listen to my interview with him below.
AUDIO: James Lowe, DVM, (9:13mp3)
2012-08-06 05:31:41
Source: http://brownfieldagnews.com/2012/08/06/understanding-influenza-in-swine-and-humans/
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