Suppliers Reassure Consumers About Pork Safety Amid Swine Flu Fears

Multiple nations have increased their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or are banning them outright as the virus is said to have killed up to 86 people and likely sickened up to 1,400 since April 13 in Mexico.

27/04/09 Amid public concern about the reports of swine influenza in humans, the US National Pork Board has been trying to reassure the public that pork is safe and will continue to be safe to consume. It pointed to a statement from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which said: "Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe."

The CDC and other health organizations continue to caution that the virus is contagious and is spreading from humans to humans. The CDC has said it has not found any evidence to indicate that any of the illnesses resulted from contact with pigs.

The statement comes as multiple nations increase their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or are banning them outright as the virus is said to have killed up to 86 people and likely sickened up to 1,400 since April 13 in Mexico. U.S. officials say the virus has been found in New York, California, Texas, Kansas and Ohio, but so far no fatalities have been reported. The stakes are high for U.S. pork producers, which export nearly $5 billion worth of products each year.

To date, there have been 20 confirmed cases of swine Influenza A (swH1N1) in California, Texas, Kansas, New York, and Ohio.  No deaths in the U.S. have been reported due to the illness. Additional cases of the virus have been confirmed in Mexico and Canada. These cases have presented with mild flu-like symptoms between end March and mid April and all have fully recovered. Parallel to this there is an ongoing outbreak in Mexico with a considerable number of cases and deaths and preliminary laboratory investigations have shown that viruses from patients with respiratory symptoms were similar to viruses in the US. So far it remains unclear why cases in Mexico appear to be more severe than those in the US.

Public health authorities in Mexico and the US have initiated comprehensive prevention and control measures including intensified surveillance. For Mexico the measures also comprise limited school closure, suspension of mass gathering events. Furthermore, the Mexican authorities have issued public recommendations on personal hygiene measures to reduce the spread of flu.

The European Centre for Disease Control details swine influenza (swine flu) as an acute viral infection of the respiratory tract in pigs caused by type A influenza virus. The mortality rate is low in pigs and recovery usually occurs within 7-1 days. Swine origin influenza viruses also occur in wild birds, poultry, horses and humans, but interspecies transmission is considered a rare event. So far three influenza type A virus subtypes: H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 have been found in pigs.

Human infections with swine influenza have been detected occasionally since the late 1950s usually in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. people working in pig farms, etc.). In Europe, since 1958 a total of 17 cases have been reported. In the US, an outbreak of swine influenza virus infections in humans was detected in recruits in a military camp in Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1976. A link to pigs was presumed but never discovered. Instead there was extensive human to human transmission, with over 200 infections resulting in 12 hospitalisations and one death.

An influenza pandemic is characterised as an ongoing world-wide epidemic caused by a novel influenza virus that infects a large proportion of the human population lacking immunity to this virus. In the 20th century there have been three influenza pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 1968. In its Global Influenza Preparedness Plan the World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined six phases of pandemic alertness. Independent experts will now review the available evidence to determine whether the WHO Director General would be advised to change phase. They may conclude there is not enough information as yet to give such advise.