{"id":2243,"date":"2009-05-01T04:25:50","date_gmt":"2009-04-30T21:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/?p=2243"},"modified":"2009-05-01T04:25:50","modified_gmt":"2009-04-30T21:25:50","slug":"wild-hogs-no-indication-of-flu-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/industry\/wild-hogs-no-indication-of-flu-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Hogs: No Indication of Flu Danger"},"content":{"rendered":"

News Release
\nTexas Animal Health Commission
\nBox l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719
\nBob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director
\nFor info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or\u00a0ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us<\/a>
\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>For immediate release:<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>
\nYou may catch the flu from your sick hunting buddy, but there\u2019s no evidence that you will catch it from domestic or wild hogs, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC).\u00a0 There is no evidence that the new strain of H1N1 influenza is in domestic or wild hogs.\u00a0 This disease is being spread from person to person.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are prepared to test hogs, if a human\/animal disease link is identified.\u00a0 To date, there has been no indication that swine are involved,\u201d said Dr. Bob Hillman, Texas state veterinarian and head of the TAHC, the state\u2019s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency.\u00a0 \u201cWe are participating on all calls with health and emergency officials, are monitoring the situation, and are consulting with local officials, but so far, there is no indication of animal-to-human disease spread.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral hunters have asked about the safety of hunting wild hogs,\u201d said Dr. Hillman.\u00a0 \u201cTo repeat, there is no evidence that wild hogs are involved in this flu outbreak. Always, however, we advise wild hog hunters to protect themselves against potential exposure to swine brucellosis, a totally different disease that is not related in any way to the flu. We know from test results that about 10 percent of wild hogs carry swine brucellosis, a bacterial disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen processing or butchering a wild hog, hunters should protect themselves against the blood and bodily fluids of wild hogs,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cWhen the wild hog meat is cooked, any swine brucellosis bacteria is destroyed by the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trappers who catch wild hogs and owners of domestic swine also should practice good biosecurity to prevent spreading the flu to pigs.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t get around swine if you become ill, and avoid having visitors near your pigs,\u201d said Dr. Hillman. \u201cHave someone else feed the animals if you become ill with flu-like symptoms.\u00a0 Notify your health department or the TAHC so your pigs can be monitored for disease.\u00a0 Also, as a basic biosecurity measure, you should always wash your hands after handling animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Hillman said wild hog trappers and domestic swine owners should call their veterinarian if their swine develop a sudden onset of respiratory illness.\u00a0 The nearest TAHC area office or TAHC headquarters also should be notified so testing can be conducted according to the flu response protocol.\u00a0 The TAHC headquarters may be reached at 800-550-8242.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Release Texas Animal Health Commission Box l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719 Bob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director For info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or\u00a0ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us For immediate release: You may catch the flu from your sick hunting buddy, but there\u2019s no evidence that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,27,14,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disease-outbrake","category-government","category-industry","category-veterinary-medicine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2243"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2245,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2243\/revisions\/2245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}