Alberta pigs likely infected with flu from worker: CFIA official

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/02/swineflu-ns-cases789.html

Number of confirmed Canadian cases now 85, all believed mild
Last Updated: Saturday, May 2, 2009 | 7:56 PM ET Comments146Recommend86CBC News
In what would be the first reported case of its kind, a farm worker with the swine flu virus is believed to have infected about 200 pigs in Alberta, a top official with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Saturday.

Senior research scientist Dr. Karuna Karunakaran works in the vaccine research lab at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control during a demonstration for media in Vancouver on Thursday. Twenty-two cases of swine flu are now confirmed in B.C. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)Dr. Brian Evans, executive vice-president of the CFIA, said at a news conference in Ottawa that the pigs were apparently infected by a farm worker who had recently been in Mexico and fell ill upon his return.

The worker returned from Mexico on April 12 and worked at the Alberta farm two days later. He "may have exposed pigs there to the illness," Evans told reporters.

The man has since recovered. The pigs are also recovering and the herd in question has been quarantined, he said. Samples from the infected pigs are being analyzed.

"We have found the virus is the one being tracked in the human population," Evans said. About 10 per cent of the 2,200 pigs at the farm exhibited flu-like symptoms such as loss of appetite or fever, he said.

"I want to be clear — there is no food safety concern related to this finding," said Evans.

It is common for pigs to contract influenza, he said. But this is the first known case of the H1N1 virus being transmitted from humans to pigs.

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

"The chance that these pigs could transfer virus to a person is remote," said Evans.

The outbreak among pigs, he said, was confined to the herd in question as none of the pigs have been moved outside the farm or sold elsewhere.

Seriously, we have discussed the fact that about half (or better) workers in the US do not get paid sick leave. Perhaps with workers in Canada giving flu to pigs, we should get a hemisphere wide workers protection movement rolling. NAFTA for fat cats and sick leave for the rest of us.

'deadly' disease? Save the pork from the spoiled humans.