Hog farmers wary of reporting new flu: OIE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It will be difficult to boost surveillance of hogs for the new pandemic strain of H1N1 flu unless farmers are confident they won't be penalized if the disease is found in their barns, an official with the World Organization for Animal Health said on Tuesday.

Farmers will be discouraged from participating in monitoring programs by bans on pork trade sparked by the human outbreak of flu and the cull of hogs on the only farm so far found with the disease, said Alex Thiermann, senior advisor to the OIE's director-general.

"What we have seen so far, it's going to be difficult to get pig farmers and veterinarians in some countries in the world that depend on trade to be very aggressively pursuing this if we look at the consequences that existed on trade," Thiermann said in a telephone interview.

The new H1N1 flu, a mixture of swine, bird and human viruses, has killed 165 people and infected more than 37,000 around the globe, the World Health Organization has said.

The virus was first called "swine flu" when public health officials flagged it as a concern in April, but was officially renamed after complaints from the hog industry.

The virus is not spread by meat, but importers like Russia and China have slapped trade bans on pork, steps world health and trade officials have called unwarranted.

"While the world wants more transparent notification (of new flu strains in pigs), they're going to have to respect the international standards on safe trade," Thiermann said.

In Canada, health officials had believed a sick farm worker passed the flu to a hog herd where H1N1 was detected, but have since ruled out that theory with blood tests.

The Canadian farmer was punished for doing the right thing, Thiermann said. After the herd was quarantined for more than five weeks, causing overcrowding in his barn, the farmer decided to cull his herd because he could not find any buyers for the animals or meat.

"The stigma attached was such that not even rendering facilities wanted to touch this thing, for the consequences," Thiermann said.

FLU CAUSES MILD ILLNESS BUT MAJOR STIGMA

Swine flu, common in hogs around the world, causes fever and coughing in pigs, which usually recover from the illness.

The airborne virus can pass back and forth between people and pigs, although such transmission is uncommon.

Unlike deadly strains of avian flu, which rapidly kill birds and people, swine flu has been more passively monitored by officials, and there is no requirement to report new strains to national or world animal health groups, Thiermann said.

Researchers who examined the genetic sequence of the virus have said it likely circulated and evolved in pigs for years, undetected because of a lack of systematic surveillance.

Some researchers have stockpiled samples of flu strains in freezers over the years, unable to test them all because of a lack of funding, he said.

The OIE has told its 174 member countries to boost surveillance for the H1N1 strain of flu, but has not added it to its list of more than 100 diseases that are mandatory to report because it appears to have a low level of infectivity and mortality rates, Thiermann said.

Thiermann said researchers probably will find H1N1 in other hogs if they spend more money and time looking for it, though he said there is no evidence it is common. He stressed farmers need "guarantees" they won't be hurt if they find the virus.

"The public at large wants more information and wants to know everything that there is in animals. But we're getting worse instead of better in terms of respecting the international standards for trade, and those who report are paying a very high price," Thiermann said.

The U.S. Agriculture Department is set to begin a pilot surveillance project to look for new strains of flu in pigs. Participation in the program will be voluntary.

Thiermann said the project is "commendable," and said he is unaware of any similar programs launched in other nations.

The world needs to spend more on building basic systems for monitoring animal diseases in developing countries, he said, noting at least 120 members of the OIE don't have enough resources for the most basic infrastructure.

Many developing countries have people and different species of livestock living close together, creating ideal conditions for flu viruses to mutate, he said.

"None of these pandemic threats have resulted in shifting resources in that direction," he said.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Marguerita Choy)