NSW H1N1 outbreak in swine contained
The first pigs infected with Influenza A H1 are now recovering, NSW acting chief veterinary officer, Dr Ian Roth, has said. The outbreak of the influenza strain was detected at a Dunedoo piggery in Central Western NSW on Friday.
Dr Roth stated that the 2000-head herd was still under close observation. The disease has not spread outside the farm in Dunedoo and none of the animals have entered the food chain.
State, territory and federal representatives from the health and agriculture sectors decided that quarantine measures at the farm would only be reconsidered when the pigs were no longer suffering the flu and after they had recovered fully for seven days.
Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry spokesman John Cobb yesterday highlighted concerns over Australia’s feral pigs, calling on the NSW government to begin an immediate surveillance program to ensure they “do not become a reservoir for the A H1 flu virus”.
Cobb urged the NSW government to undertake an immediate feral pig control program in the Central West, including shooting, baiting and trapping, to prevent the disease coming back “as a meaner, nastier, deadlier virus”.
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