UK: H1N1 flu virus found in pigs in Norfolk
A sixth case of pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus in pigs has today been confirmed in the UK.
Pigs on a farm in Norfolk have been confirmed as having a strain of influenza following earlier cases in Northern Ireland.
Routine scanning surveillance has confirmed that the strain of the virus found is virtually identical to strains currently circulating in humans. It is not uncommon for pigs to be affected by influenza.
Voluntary measures set out in a new Code of Practice on influenza in pigs drawn up by the pig industry, Defra, Devolved Administrations and other government bodies, are in place on the farm.
H1N1 has now been confirmed in pigs in Argentina, Australia Canada, China Eire, Finland, Northern Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Iceland, Ireland, Taiwan and the USA.
The H1N1 pandemic strain is widely circulating in the community and spreading into pigs is not an unexpected event given that it is widely known that H1 human influenza strains can infect pigs.
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• DEFRA
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