Pigs in China's Hunan Province Test Positive for Bird Flu

The Epoch Times ^ | Nov. 11, 2005

[EBH]

XINZHAO, CHINA: Farmers buried pigs that died of a mysterious disease in a big pit on March 10, 2004. A large number of pigs in Xinzhao, Hunan Province, died all of a sudden in March 2004, after being infected with an unknown illness. (AFP/Getty Images) High-resolution image (2500 x 1760 px, 300 dpi) Chinese officials revealed that pigs have tested positive for bird flu in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province, where a bird epidemic is raging and one human death, possibly from bird flu, has already occurred, reported Phoenix TV on November 10. Hunan Province Bureau of Agriculture officials tested samples of pig oral secretions to assess the possibility that bird flu was responsible for the death of a 12-year old girl on October 17th. The girl was cremated the same day that she died, and her ill brother is still in quarantine.

The deputy head of the Bureau of Agriculture in Hunan Province, Ou Daiming, said that this was the first time pigs have been tested for the virus in Hunan Province. The results have already been reported to the Ministry of Health, and random pig testing is taking place in nearby villages. So far, officials say they have found no other inflected pigs.

Zoology experts at Hunan Agriculture University say that since pig genes are similar to human genes, and that viruses of many animals can live and mutate in pigs, it becomes dangerous for humans once the virus has been found its way to pigs. Therefore, not only poultry, but pigs too, should be closely monitored in epidemic areas.

See the following Epoch Times articles:

Mystery Surrounds Hunan Girl’s Death; Are Chinese Authorities Covering Up Again?

and

Pathogenic Politics: Is the Bird Flu Already Spreading in Asia?

[SheLion]

Can we still trust turkeys?U.S. Turkeys are primarily grown indoors and are safe.

As a matter of caution, I would avoid Free Range turkeys which might have been exposed to migrating birds.

Thank you so much for the information.  I feel better now that I ask.

Not to sound ignorant, but what is a "free range turkey?"  :)

[EBH]

Consumers: Food Safety Guidance
There is no evidence that any human cases of avian influenza have been acquired by eating poultry products. Influenza viruses such as H5N2, H7N2, and H5N1 are destroyed by adequate heat, as are other foodborne pathogens. Consumers are reminded to follow proper food preparation and handling practices, including:

Cook all poultry and poultry products (including eggs) thoroughly before eating. (This means that chicken should be cooked until it reaches a temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit, throughout each piece of chicken.)

Raw poultry always should be handled hygienically because it can be associated with many infections, including salmonella. Therefore, all utensils and surfaces (including hands) that come in contact with raw poultry should be cleaned carefully with water and soap immediately afterwards. The World Health Organization has developed food safety guidance for the current situation in Asia . This is available at http://www.who.int/foodsafety/micro/avian/en/ .

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/professional/possible-exposure.htm

[Manic_Episode]

I remember reading an article 20 years ago that said viruses didn't spread from birds to humans, but easily spread from birds to pigs, and then easily from pigs to humans.

Chinese raise ducks and pigs together and most flus begin here and spread to the rest of the world.

[texianyankee]

LOL!

[mlc9852]

From what they say, you won't get it from eating cooked poultry. Just don't let the turkey sleep in your bed with you.

[SheLion]

From what they say, you won't get it from eating cooked poultry. Just don't let the turkey sleep in your bed with you.

Thanks!!

[blam]

"Zoology experts at Hunan Agriculture University say that since pig genes are similar to human genes, and that viruses of many animals can live and mutate in pigs, it becomes dangerous for humans once the virus has been found its way to pigs."

Wasn't the 1918 virus thought to have mutated in pigs?

[SeeSalt]

"Farmers buried pigs that died of a mysterious disease in a big pit on March 10, 2004. A large number of pigs in Xinzhao, Hunan Province, died all of a sudden in March 2004, after being infected with an unknown illness. (AFP/Getty Images) High-resolution image (2500 x 1760 px, 300 dpi) Chinese officials revealed that pigs have tested positive for bird flu in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province, where a bird epidemic is raging and one human death,"

What a BS! Fist of all, Chinese did not proof that the death of pigs is due to the bird flu. Neither for that dead girl. Everything is assumption. There are 2 scientific methods that allow to incriminate a virus in the infection of a living creature:
1.Isolate the virus from blood , brain, spleen or limphnodes from infected animal or human. That it tells that virus spread in the body through bloodstream system(viremia). Chinese did not isolated the virus.They capture some electron-microscopic images of the virus(from secretions).That is nothing divided by 4. Zero! Even if isolate the virus from secretions does not proof that the virus causes the infection.The animal or human can be a passive carrier of that virus. In this case must proceed for the second scientific procedure.
2.Test a paired samples of blood for antibody of infected animal or human at least 14 days apart and increases four fold in the titer in the last sample proof an active infection.
They did nothing to put a sciantific diagnosis.

[blam]

"Not to sound ignorant, but what is a "free range turkey?" :)"

Wild. Birds in the woods/forests, etc. (Don't go turkey hunting or accept a bird from the wild)

[SheLion]

Wild. Birds in the woods/forests, etc. (Don't go turkey hunting or accept a bird from the wild)

Ah! Being a city gal all my life, no wonder I wasn't familiar with a free range bird. :)

Thanks so much for clearing that up for me.

[Iowa Granny]

Not all free range poultry is 'wild', there are people who grow chickens & turkeys using a free range method, which means they aren't held in little pens, are outside in the elements and are allowed to wander around scavengering for bugs etc.

There is a University community not far from where I live. The Organic followers there seem to prefer free range birds.

Many of the Asian Countries are recommending their farmers move their birds into sheds so they will avoid the co-mingling with migrating birds. When I read these recommendations earlier I drew the conclusion that our domestic birds in the U.S., grown indoors, should be safe.

Couple my information with the cooking information posted above and it appears we can have a stress free Turkey Day without worrying about exposing our guests to Bird Flu.

[Robert357]

... The girl has been confirmed as another victim of avian flu.

If you look back on flu panic situations, swine flue many years ago, SARS a couple years ago, more recently bird flu and now bird/swine flu.

I once heard a prominent scientist discuss the plague. What he pointed out was a kind of interesting Darwinian theory on pandemics. His concept was that one needs conditions where the immune systems of a large concentrated population are weakened by drought or famine (or war). This then allows for a lot of theme & variation among mutating illnesses so that a "superior" (i.e. highly contagious and particularly nasty) form of illness to be created by mother nature.

In thinking about this and that SARS was from China in 2003, I really have to wonder about how well the Chinese people are doing under the great industrialization.

I also wonder what will happen to China if they are ground zero for the pandemic. It could be an interesting internal revolution in terms of crowd control followed by an interesting revolution in terms of high economic growth expectations not being fulfilled because there are few people to build the infrastructure and man the factories.

[SheLion]

Couple my information with the cooking information posted above and it appears we can have a stress free Turkey Day without worrying about exposing our guests to Bird Flu.

I really appreciate all the information you gave me.  My daughter, son-in-law and grand baby are coming in today from Denver and they will be here for Thanksgiving.  I wanted to make sure I bought the safest bird there is so we don't have to worry about this bird flu.

Always something, isn't there.

Thanks again!

[null and void]

I would avoid Free Range turkeys which might have been exposed to migrating birds.

Good point.

[null and void]

There goes my annual hot date...

[AdmSmith]

If these pigs are infected at the same time with the bird flue (H5N1) and an ordinary human flue such as H3H2/H1N2/H1N1 there might be recombinations between these two as the flue virus is very sloppy in the multiplication. If we have this recombination we should take care.

[blam]

"I once heard a prominent scientist discuss the plague. What he pointed out was a kind of interesting Darwinian theory on pandemics. His concept was that one needs conditions where the immune systems of a large concentrated population are weakened by drought or famine (or war). This then allows for a lot of theme & variation among mutating illnesses so that a "superior" (i.e. highly contagious and particularly nasty) form of illness to be created by mother nature."

There's probably something to that. The Justinian Plague began during the Dark Ages.

The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined?

[Tench_Coxe]

Exactly. Wash hands thoroughly after handling. Don't use the same cutting board for other items unless they're being cooked thoroughly as well.

[mlc9852]

LOL - mine too.

[raygun]

Yeah, and if you need to know how to cook turkey, just give Josiah (Jed) Bartlett a call. He knows how to cook turkey as he's want to tell eveyone he meets about that.