Can someone explain to me, like I was a five year old, WHY transmission to the pig population would be so horrible?
I understand HOW it transmits, and I understand that the problem is transmission from pigs to primates (humans.) I live in an area without a wild pig population, so I am not fully “getting” the issue.
Can someone explain it to me (the rest of us)?
Can someone explain to me, like I was a five year old, WHY transmission to the pig population would be so horrible?
Because Muslims would be safer than the rest of us.
I’ll take a stab.
First, and for the first time, we’d have a North American strain of Ebola using porcines as a reservoir. In Africa, it’s the bat population that basically houses Ebola - at least that’s the latest thinking on it.
Let’s say pigs could harbor the virus without dying from it.
Two problems off the top of my head:
1. The domestic pork market would get hammered. Period. You’d have to employ some very expensive tests on every animal just to get your stock to market.
2. Wild pigs are a real problem. They used to be a problem in the SE corner of the US. That’s not true any more. Now in many states there is an open season on wild pig with no bag limit. We’ve even got them in WA state now.
You’d have potential reservoirs of virus in almost every state in the US, including Hawaii and Alaska.
Add to this the consideration that every fluid emitted by the pig would contain virus, not just blood. Add to that the fact that it is transmitted sexually, which impacts breeding, etc.
They are very mobile and social. The disease would quickly spread in their population and also spread geographically.
When they urinate they “spray.” This will aerosolized contaminated urine. The virus is viable for a few days on a surface. In short, pigs would be mobile infection factories.