More Swine Flu Fallout

More Swine Flu Fallout. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

I have to be honest and say I’m not really sure how this got to be such a big issue. Swine flu has taken the world by storm but only in how most people perceive it. Influenza, the normal kind we all suffer from, is known to kill approximately 36-thousand people annually according to the Center for Disease Control and it will hospitalize over 200-thousand each year. Swine flu is really nothing more than a different strain of that virus and as such all the normal precautions should be taken. Avoid contact with people who have the flu, wash your hands, cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze and so forth. In fact the CDC is airing public service announcements saying the same.

CDC: To help fight swine flu, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, then throw the tissue away.

Swine flu is transmitted by the normal means, human to human contact. You cannot get it from eating pork something the National Pork Board is trying to stress. Dr. Liz Wagstrom, Pork Checkoff Assistant Vice President of Science and Technology.

WAGSTROM: This is very clearly human to human transmission of this virus and at this time we really don’t have any evidence that contact with pigs is of any risk to people.

Reports that the news of the outbreak was affecting stock markets is what I personally would call “silly.” And countries like Russian and China that are talking about banning pork products are just looking for an excuse since there is no danger of contamination from pork products. On Capitol Hill, the Senate convened a special committee to look into the situation. USDA Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack made a statement on Monday about the outbreak.

VILSACK: I also want to reassure the public there is no evidence at this time that swine have been infected by this virus. USDA has in place and did so before last weeks events a surveillance system to monitor animal health. But I’ve asked USDA to reach out to agriculture officials in every state to affirm that they have no signs of this virus type in their state swine herd and as if today, no cases were reported.

Please understand that this is a serious illness. It is a new strain of the flu virus and there are really no vaccines to combat it so the chance that it will spread far and wide is great. The very young and the elderly are at the greatest risk. But it is a flu virus. Something we deal with all the time.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.