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| Northern Ohio county fair reports outbreak of swine flu |
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| Northern Ohio county fair reports outbreak of swine flu
By PAM HANSBERGER
Ohio Correspondent
NORWALK, Ohio — The Huron County Fair, Aug. 12-18, in Norwalk became the center of some unwanted publicity and controversy after an outbreak of swine flu surfaced in feeder market pigs.
The pigs came into the fairgrounds on Aug. 11, and a few pigs started to show signs of illness shortly thereafter on Aug. 12. During the fair, junior exhibitors can use the vet on the grounds, use their own vet or treat the pigs themselves.
By Tuesday morning a dozen more pigs became ill. Exhibitors said the pigs had a temperature, runny eyes and did not want to eat or drink. On Tuesday evening it was decided all the hogs in the barn would have to be vaccinated.
The shots cost each youth $15 in cash that had to be paid upfront before the shot was given. It took several vets and assistants to work through all the pens.
By Thursday afternoon it was announced that any exhibitor that did not think their pig was well enough to show – could opt out of showing.
On Friday, the Senior Fair Board, without any official notices or contact with exhibitors or parents – declared the barn off limits.
The doors were secured by boarding them up and 8-feet long fencing sections were nailed across other access points. No one was allowed in or out and Senior Fair Board members stood guard.
Not everyone agreed with that decision. One woman, Marty Stewart of Sandusky, Ohio told the fair board members she was “calling the Humane Society, if my granddaughter can’t feed and water her pig!”
The plan was to get the pigs shipped out quickly and disinfect the barns. But by 5 p.m. that night it was clear that the decisions were out of the hands of the local 4-H committee. They were told not to move the hogs. A meeting was held with the Fair Board members, local vets, the Ag Extension educator, Ohio Department of Agriculture representatives and the local health department.
The exhibitors were told to go to the barn, feed and water the pigs, get in and get out. Show boxes, wheelbarrows, etc. could be removed.
On Saturday at the livestock auction it was announced that “the pigs are still here. We know some were told they would be shipped out, but they are still here so continue to feed and water them.”
The pigs would have been fine to ship for slaughter since the withdrawal time is four days and they were planned to be shipped out to Routh Packing in Sandusky on Sunday. The swine show/sale in Huron County is a terminal event so all the pigs were to be slaughtered. No hogs go home.
Officials noted that there is no vaccination requirements or veterinary certificate of inspection required for entry into the fair.
They are, however, checked by a vet when they arrive on the grounds. And each hog must have a drug use notification form signed by the exhibitor for each animal. The shots given at the fair had to be added to each form by the hog superintendent Dan Verhoff and his staff.
There was actually two flu cases reported to the Huron County Health Department as swine flu cases. Health District Administrator Tim Hollinger said in his news release “at this point no connection has been medically established between the swine and human cases.”
According to the health department for humans to get the swine flu, they would have to have extended contact with the infected pigs. For a full-time hog producer, this is a possibility, but just walking through the barns with your children would not infect you.
This farm news was published in the Sept. 5, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/5/2007 |
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