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Pigs in China are Dying from Hemmorhagic Disease 
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Very Bad News
User ID: 233309
 United States
5/7/2007 12:02 PM
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This is really, really bad.
Pigs are dying in China from a 'mysterious ailment'..
Hong Kong media were full of lurid accounts Monday of pigs staggering around with blood pouring from their bodies in Gaoyao and neighboring Yunfu, both in Guangdong Province.
It's hemmorhagic in nature. And I'll bet you it's bird flu spliced with ebola. Dead microbiologist Don Wiley was working on this before he died - he developed the technique for splicing ebola with 1918 flu virus.
I guess the USDA-FDA will want to start importing Chinese pigs to the US immediately.
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May 7, 2007
Concerns raised on China's global health disclosures
HONG KONG: The international and Hong Kong authorities said Monday that they had received little information from mainland Chinese officials about a mysterious ailment killing pigs in southeastern China or about Chinese wheat gluten contaminated with plastic scrap, raising questions again about whether Beijing is willing to share data on global health issues.
The Chinese government, and particularly the government of Guangdong Province, next to Hong Kong, suffered heavy criticism in 2003 after concealing the SARS virus for the first four months after it first emerged in Foshan, 150 kilometers, or 95 miles, northwest of Hong Kong. After SARS spread to Hong Kong and around the world, top Chinese officials promised to improve disclosure.
But officials in Hong Kong as well as at the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday that they had received practically no information about the latest pig deaths and limited details about wheat gluten contamination.
Because pigs can catch many of the same diseases as people, notably bird flu, the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization maintain global networks to track and investigate unexplained patterns of pig deaths. State-controlled media in China have carried a few reports on the wheat gluten problem but almost nothing on the pig deaths.
A man answering the phones at the city government of Gaoyao, located 230 kilometers to the northwest of Hong Kong, confirmed late Monday afternoon that pigs were dying there. The man declined to give his name.
Hong Kong media were full of lurid accounts Monday of pigs staggering around with blood pouring from their bodies in Gaoyao and neighboring Yunfu, both in Guangdong Province.
Apple, a daily newspaper here, said that up to 80 percent of the pigs had died in the area, that peasants were engaged in panic selling of ailing animals at deep discounts and that pig carcasses were floating down the river.
Dr. Kwok Ka-ki, the medical community's representative in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, said that the Chinese government needed to share information fully about the pig deaths, in particular with the Chinese public as well as with Hong Kong, which Britain returned to China in 1997.
"They definitely need to tell the public but also people in the city as to the extent of the outbreak, how is the disease being controlled and the impact on public health," he said. "It would help a lot to relieve the worry, and it would help the rest of China to fight the disease."
There have been no reports of people becoming ill from the disease. But the SARS experience has left Hong Kong with lasting jitters about mysterious diseases in mainland China, and the media reports fostered considerable concern here.
"It's very scary," said Allen Lee, a longtime senior politician who is now a television talk show host.
Medical experts said that the extent of the reported bleeding from the pigs, including bloody skin lesions, did not sound like common symptoms of bird flu, but added that the pig deaths needed to be investigated.
Because pigs can be infected with many avian and human influenza viruses, the most popular scientific model for how avian influenza viruses cause pandemics in humans is that human and avian influenza viruses exchange genetic material when they infect a pig at the same time.
Monday was the last day of the weeklong May Day holiday in China, so most government and business offices were closed. But Hong Kong media reported that pigs had begun dying in Yunfu after Chinese New Year celebrations in February, although it was only recently that the disease had begun spreading.
The Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department officials said Monday that the Guangdong authorities had told them only that no live pigs were being shipped from the Yunfu and Gaoyao area to Hong Kong.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said that there were no signs of suspicious deaths among pigs in Hong Kong, and referred questions about pigs in Guangdong to the food department.
Both departments said last week in written responses to questions that they were not testing wheat gluten imported to Hong Kong for melamine scrap. The presence of melamine in pet food has been linked to the deaths of as many as 4,000 cats and dogs in the United States, and prompted the culling of chickens that ate contaminated feed.
Hong Kong officials expressed surprise Monday when told that the official Xinhua press agency had briefly reported a month ago that the mainland had begun nationwide testing of wheat gluten for melamine.
Animal feed dealers in northeastern China said late last month that the two main destinations for feed mixed with melamine had been the Yangtze delta region near Shanghai and the Pearl River delta region near Hong Kong.
[link to www.iht.com]
I was worried before.
This really scares me.
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. (OP)
User ID: 233309
United States
5/7/2007 12:44 PM
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Best case scenario, it's hemmorhagic swine flu.
That's pretty bad.
Classical Swine Fever
(Hog cholera, Swine fever)
Classical swine fever is a contagious febrile disease of pigs. It was first described in the early 19th century in the USA. Later, a condition in Europe termed swine fever was recognized to be the same disease. Both names continue in use, although in Europe it is now called classical swine fever to distinguish it from African swine fever, which is clinically indistinguishable but caused by an unrelated virus.
Classical swine fever has the potential to cause devastating epidemics, particularly in countries that are free of the disease and do not practice vaccination, so that their total pig population is susceptible. For example, an outbreak in the Netherlands in 1997-98 involved 429 herds; >12 million pigs were killed either to control the spread of disease or for associated welfare reasons.
Awareness and vigilance are essential so that outbreaks are detected early and control measures are instituted rapidly to prevent further spread.
Etiology and Epidemiology:
Classical swine fever is caused by a small, enveloped RNA virus in the pestivirus group of the family Flaviviridae. Classical swine fever virus is antigenically related to the other pestiviruses, namely bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus of cattle ( Bovine Viral Diarrhea and Mucosal Disease Complex) and border disease virus of sheep ( Border Disease). The latter 2 are widespread in ruminant populations and can occasionally infect pigs; therefore, laboratory tests using monoclonal antibody reagents or genetic sequence recognition methods must be done to differentiate classical swine fever from ruminant pestiviruses.
Classical swine fever virus infects only pigs and wild boar, although experimental infections can be induced in other species. It will grow in porcine cell cultures, notably the PK15 cell line, but does not generally cause a visible cytopathic effect in culture so that immunolabeling methods are essential to detect viral growth.
The virus has only one serotype, although some minor antigenic variability between strains can be shown. Strain typing for epidemiologic mapping purposes can be done by genetic sequencing of the virus combined with phylogenetic analysis.
The virus is moderately fragile and does not persist in the environment or spread long distances by the airborne route.
The virus can survive for prolonged periods in a moist, protein-rich medium such as meat, other tissues, and body fluids, particularly if kept cold or frozen. Virus survival times of several years in frozen pig meat, or months in chilled or cured meat, have been reported.
Classical swine fever is distributed worldwide. It is endemic in much of Latin America, some Caribbean islands, and pig-producing countries of Asia. It has not been reported in mainland Africa. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA are free of classical swine fever, as is most of western and central Europe, although sporadic outbreaks have occurred in a number of European countries during the past decade.
The main source of infection is the pig—either live animals or uncooked pig products. In endemic areas, the major concern is spread of disease by movement of infected pigs, which can be a cause of remote outbreaks where there is large-scale transport of pigs for finishing.
In parts of Europe, the wild boar population may harbor the virus, although the significance of wild boar as a reservoir for domestic pigs remains controversial.
Another major risk is accidental introduction of the virus through imported pig meat and meat products that readily find their way into the porcine food chain through the feeding of waste food. The virus is readily inactivated by cooking, which emphasizes the importance of enforcing regulations on heat treatment of swill. Many countries have completely banned swill feeding.
Mechanical transmission on vehicles and equipment, as well as by personnel (notably veterinarians) travelling between pig farms, are also significant means of spread within an infected area.
If sows are infected with low to moderately virulent strains of virus during pregnancy and then recover, there is a high risk that their offspring may be carriers.
Not all such carriers will show clinical signs of disease. Therefore, it is particularly important to investigate herds that have a high level of unexplained reproductive failure, congenital tremor, or other congenital abnormalities.
Clinical Findings and Lesions:
The disease has acute and chronic forms, and virulence varies from severe, with high mortality, to mild or even subclinical. Low virulence strains are a special diagnostic problem; the only expression may be poor reproductive performance and the birth of piglets with neurologic defects (eg, congenital tremor, ).
The severe acute form is characterized by fever, inappetence, and depression. The incubation period is typically 2-6 days, with death at 10-20 days after infection. Fever (>41°C) persists until the terminal stage of disease, when body temperature may become subnormal. Constipation is common, followed by diarrhea.
The principal lesion is a generalized vasculitis, seen in live pigs as hemorrhages and cyanosis in the skin, notably of the extremities. There may also be a generalized erythema. Vasculitis in the CNS may produce incoordination or even convulsions.
At necropsy, the principal findings are widespread petechial and ecchymotic hemorrhages, especially in lymph nodes, kidneys, spleen, bladder, and larynx.
Infarction may be seen, notably in the spleen. Most pigs show a nonsuppurative encephalitis with vascular cuffing.
In chronic disease, pigs often survive >30 days. After an initial acute febrile phase, pigs may show apparent recovery but then relapse, with anorexia, depression, fever, and progressive loss of condition. Histologically, there is atrophy of the thymus and lymphoid depletion. Button ulcers may develop in the intestine, particularly near the ileocecal junction.
Control:
No treatment should be attempted. Classical swine fever is on the OIE List A. Reporting the disease to authorities is compulsory in many countries. Confirmed cases and in-contact animals should be slaughtered, and measures taken to protect other pigs. This may involve herd slaughter combined with area restrictions on pig movements, or vaccination, depending on local disease control regulations.
Live attenuated vaccines are widely used in endemically infected areas; these are either derivatives of the lapinized “C” strain or strains adapted from cell cultures. They are effective at controlling clinical disease but allow the virus to continue circulating subclinically; therefore, vaccination is inappropriate in countries or regions with an eradication policy.
Recently, genetic manipulation has resulted in the production of marker vaccines that do not express one of the viral glycoproteins. Because naturally infected pigs develop antibodies to this protein, the combination of marker vaccine and specific diagnostic test (see above) enables the theoretical differentiation of vaccinated from infected pigs. Although the vaccines have been granted marketing authorizations in Europe, their use in the field has not yet been permitted by disease control authorities.
Such an approach may be adopted in the event of a major outbreak.
[link to www.merckvetmanual.com] |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 225190
United States
5/7/2007 1:08 PM
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bump!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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op (OP)
User ID: 233309
United States
5/7/2007 1:23 PM
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Thanks for the bump.
I don't think it's swine flu.
This image is haunting me.
Hong Kong media were full of lurid accounts Monday of pigs staggering around with blood pouring from their bodies .... up to 80 percent of the pigs had died in the area... peasants were engaged in panic selling of ailing animals at deep discounts and ... pig carcasses were floating down the river.
What is going ON over there???
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op (OP)
User ID: 233309
United States
5/7/2007 1:25 PM
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"The Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department officials said Monday that the Guangdong authorities had told them only that no live pigs were being shipped from the Yunfu and Gaoyao area to Hong Kong."
That's because they're all DEAD. 
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233318
 Canada
5/7/2007 1:27 PM
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Hmmm Do you thing MAYBE this is all a WARNING?!
bees birds pigs |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 232695
United States
5/7/2007 1:54 PM
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Thanks, OP! 
 to pin! |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 112244
United States
5/7/2007 2:03 PM
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HOLY SHIT..........WHAT OTHER SHIT IS GONNA COME FROM OUT OF THAT DISATEROUS PART OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!  |
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it's ALL BAD
User ID: 232988
United States
5/7/2007 2:10 PM
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It's pretty much nothing BUT bad news, is it?
Either we'll kill ourselves off, or nature will kill us off.
Either way we're doomed.
I've now converted to the DOOM side. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 162364
United States
5/7/2007 2:13 PM
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bees, birds, pigs......Don't forget fish, seals, coral, dolphins....... |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 206199
United States
5/7/2007 2:17 PM
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and frogs. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 227492
United States
5/7/2007 2:23 PM
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Bird + Pig = When pigs die! (so do u and i) |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233393
United States
5/7/2007 2:36 PM
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darn...there goes the bacon |
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lamâshtu
User ID: 225644
 Switzerland
5/7/2007 2:44 PM
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interesting, gonna double check this with my friends from hong kong. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 95446
 France
5/7/2007 2:45 PM
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In 1919 an inspector with the U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry was publishing research that suggested a role for farm animals in the 1918 pandemic.
Inspector J.S. Koen of Fort Dodge, Iowa wrote:
"The similarity of the epidemic among people and the epidemic among pigs was so close, the reports so frequent, that an outbreak in the family would be followed immediately by an outbreak among the hogs, and vice versa, as to present a most striking coincidence if not suggesting a close relation between the two conditions. It looked like “flu,” and until proven it was not “flu,” I shall stand by that diagnosis."
Koen JS. 1919. A practical method for field diagnosis of swine disease. American Journal of Veterinary Medicine 14:468. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233414
United States
5/7/2007 3:07 PM
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Does China export pork meat?
This started back in January (who knows..?)
article says "peasants were engaged in panic selling of ailing animals at deep discounts".. who did they sell these pigs to?
And once the pigs die, are they selling the meat?
Why the hell not, right?
And those carcasses floating in the river - what's the water being used for?
Processing, drinking, beverages?
Scary bad. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 210046
United States
5/7/2007 3:18 PM
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start your research engines for anyone who eats pork make sure you know where you are getting it from |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233414
United States
5/7/2007 3:18 PM
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Unidentified illness kills over 300 pigs in China
07 May 2007
An unidentified animal illness has spread near two southern Chinese cities, infecting at least 1,300 pigs and killing over 300.
This news made headlines in several Hong Kong newspapers.
The disease struck in Yunfu City in the South of the province of Guangdong about four weeks ago. Gaoyao City is said to be infected too.
Chinese media reported that some pigs had developed symptoms such as fever and lack of appetite and died.
Import stop
Due to the news, pork traders in Hong Kong have stopped importing pigs from a township in Guangdong province.
The deputy chairman of the Pork Traders' General Association of Hong Kong, said, "Pigs to be exported are branded to show where they come from. This will allow the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China to track down the source of infected pigs easily and ban them from being exported."
No human infections have been reported.
[link to www.pigprogress.net] |
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Webbot
User ID: 3638
United States
5/7/2007 3:20 PM
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well once the panic sex begins, how many women that are ragatha christy are gonna be mistaken as infected?????
This is so not good
The first step is admitting your an asshole |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233414
United States
5/7/2007 3:21 PM
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The deputy chairman of the Pork Traders' General Association of Hong Kong, said, "Pigs to be exported are branded to show where they come from. This will allow the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China to track down the source of infected pigs easily and ban them from being exported."
Oh yeah...that'll work.
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233414
United States
5/7/2007 3:22 PM
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Can't brand every piece of meat, can you?
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233414
United States
5/7/2007 3:23 PM
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Btw....
Do you think bananas are safe? |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 232349
United States
5/7/2007 3:24 PM
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so much for the YEAR OF THE PIG....  |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 233418
United States
5/7/2007 3:28 PM
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And those carcasses floating in the river - what's the water being used for?
Processing, drinking, beverages? Quoting: Anonymous Coward 233414
exported bottle water, probably the cheap stuff in the shrink wrapped cases at Wal-Mart. |
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* Vital signs of life
User ID: 215827
United States
5/7/2007 3:29 PM
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Just a coincidence ? Check out this story.....
[link to www.usatoday.com]
See my friends and fellow human beings. The problem is ...the Earth is sick due to mankinds disrespect, arrogance and contempt for life. And in its death throes it is going to get extremely nasty. End of the human civilization at the least.
______________
_______________
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Flat lines. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 230941
Canada
5/7/2007 5:03 PM
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I love pork chops.
Man... pork is sure a tastey meat. |
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mj-13
User ID: 233440
United States
5/7/2007 5:15 PM
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Yeah, I would say this is pretty bad. From the implications of the report, we are not just looking at the vulnerable food supply becoming effected as we have seen happen with the recent pet food debacle, but also a possible human strain of this Ebola-like virus emerging into the population- globally if it goes pandemic. |
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* Vital signs of life
User ID: 215827
United States
5/7/2007 5:33 PM
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* Vital signs of life
User ID: 215827
United States
5/7/2007 5:33 PM
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Manager Bob
User ID: 233449
United States
5/7/2007 5:35 PM
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50 cents off on all hot dogs this week! No limit on purchases! Stock up now for those Memorial Day festvities!
(Store savings club membership required. Present your membership card at the register to qualify for discounts and special offers) |
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beezle
User ID: 233457
 Australia
5/7/2007 5:39 PM
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The problem with pigs, is that they're so genetically close to humans. It's just a short jump (mutation) from one to the other. |
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