May 8, 2013 – CHINA - Scientists said on Wednesday that flu infections were rising among pigs raised for slaughter on farms in south and southeastern China, also plagued by bird flu. And the risk of spillover to humans was “constant or growing”, according to one of the authors of a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Pigs are an important source of new human strains of influenza A, such as the 2009-10 H1N1 pandemic that emerged in Mexico and infected an estimated fifth of the world’s population. China is currently in the grips of a deadly H7N9 bird flu virus that has killed 27 people since March, mainly in the country’s east – overlapping with the study area. H7N9 has not been traced to pigs and has not been shown to jump from person to person, but is being closely watched for genetic changes that may make this possible. An article in the science journal Nature last month highlighted that H7N9 seems to be circulating in areas of China that have large populations of pigs and humans “providing opportunities for further adaptation to mammals and for re-assortment with human- or pig-adapted viruses.” For the new study, an international team of disease experts analyzed data collected at an abattoir in Hong Kong over a 12-year period from 1998 to 2010, to learn more about the spread of flu among pigs. Such information may be useful to prevent future pandemic jumps from animals to humans. The team analyzed the results of tests for virus infection at time of slaughter, as well as tests for antibodies which would indicate the pig had previously been infected and was now immune. They observed a drop in positive virus tests by the time the pigs reached the abattoir but, worryingly, concluded this did not mean there was less infection. “Instead, it reflects higher rates of influenza circulation on the farms where pigs are raised, so that they have already been infected [and so they’re immune] by the time they’re going to slaughter,” co-author James Lloyd-Smith of the University of California in Los Angeles said by e-mail. The conclusion was derived from a corresponding rise in positive antibody tests. “The prevalence of infection in swine has not decreased and so the risk of spillover to humans or birds is constant or growing,” added Lloyd-Smith. China is a priority for flu surveillance given the high densities of humans, swine and fowl in the region, the team wrote. “Currently, China produces and consumes almost 50 per cent of the world’s pork, requiring an enormous swine population.”
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