More Norwegian pig herds infected with H1N1
Another eight pig herds in Nord-Trøndelag in Norway have been diagnosed with pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1), and minister of agriculture Lars Peder Brekk has asked that pig farmers be given priority when the mass vaccination programme against the flu begins.
Experts said the flu spreads from humans to pigs more easily than earlier believed. The Minister is therefore concerned about the possibility that farmers will infect their own animals, and that the disease will gain a foothold in Norway, which has up to now been free of the disease among animals.
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Herds destroyed
A pig herd of 500 animals were mass slaughtered on Tuesday, after swine flu was confirmed on a farm in the county of Nord-Trøndelag last week. Another 900 pigs from a second farm will also be slaughtered.
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This is the first time that swine flu has been diagnosed on pigs in Norway, and the mass slaughtering is a measure to prevent the disease from spreading. The slaughtered animals will be incinerated.
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