If you are a porkaholic like I am, you should be happy, like I am for now, to hear that the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared it will stop referring to the new strain of flu affecting people in several countries, including Barbados, as “swine flu”.
The reason for their decision is that whereas humans are coming down with, and in a number of cases dying from, the flu, not a single pig in any country anywhere has been found with the illness, leaving health officials dumbfounded as to where the strain might have originated.
I must confess that when the news first started to spread about the outbreak of this new H1N1 virus I started to panic, not so much about the possibility of contracting it, although I would not like to, but of the possibility of having to give up eating my much favoured pork chops, barbecued ribs, pulled pork, pudding and souse, baked ham and other pork products.
The trigger for my fear was the reference over the years to the illness as swine flu and, as you know, swine = pigs, and pigs = pork, proper or otherwise.
So now that the WHO has taken the decision to stop linking the flu to swine, I am relieved and happy.
But here’s what is an update on what is happening in the pig industry outside of Barbados.
Whereas in the past people feared and took great precautions against contracting the H1N1 from pigs, this time around it’s the pig farmers who are very concerned and taking every precaution possible to ensure that their pigs don’t catch the flu from people.
American hog farmer Ron Suther in Kansas says, “That is the biggest concern, that your herd could somehow contract this illness from an infected person.”
As a result, he is taking no chances and is banning visitors from his barns as well as requiring maintenance workers, delivery men and other strangers to report on recent travels and any illness before they step foot on his property.
I especially liked what the National Pork Producers chief veterinarian, Jennifer Greiner, has said in support of the decision by farmers like Suther to keep sick persons far away from their pigs. Her words were:
“If humans give it to pigs, we don’t have things like Tamiflu for pigs. We don’t have antivirals. If the pigs get it, there isn’t much we can do. Water, aspirin, and bed rest, that’s all we’ve got.”
For another producer, Craig Rowles, if any of his workers feel sick, they are ordered to take time off work – paid – to keep them away from the pigs.
All I need to hear now, in order to keep me eating my Bajan pork properly and without fear, is what steps my Bajan farmers are taking in order to protect their pigs from sick Bajan people, workers or otherwise.
Health officials fear a possible global flu pandemic, and the number of sick and dead grows daily.
• Al Gilkes heads a public relations firm.
