Germany - Hepatitis E risks to handlers from pigs

A new study in Germany points out the dangers arising from direct contact with pigs; in this case, Hepatitis E.

We have been warning of this particular risk for years.  You can reach many articles by searching for "Hepatitis" in the search box above

It was not difficult. All we had to do was plot human cases, when known, with a map. In Britain, the giveaway was the location of the National Health Service Authorities investigating HEV or Hepatitis E in humans. They were in the pig farming areas of England.

Also, the biggest single attraction on this blog are the articles dealing with HEV and pigs. They have been heavily accessed for years, especially, but far from exclusively, from Central and Eastern Europe.

Yet another livestock zoonosis, a disease shared by humans and animals and killing humans, is neglected in Britain. Veterinarians and pig farmers, and their contacts, are clearly at serious risk.

The new report can be reached via the Springer site here.

April 2014

Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in humans living in high pig density areas of Germany

Purchase on Springer.com

Abstract

...This study demonstrates that in addition to the consumption of raw or undercooked meat, direct contact to pigs has to be considered as an additional risk factor for HEV infection.

MRSA st398 in Horses, Veterinarians and Pigs

Today, at Aintree, on Grand National Day, the world enjoys the spectacle of  jet setting racehorses showing their speed and agility. 

That the failures seem to have a less publicised future is another matter.

But it is another deteriorating situation with high rates of MRSA st398 in horses attributed to globe trotting horses, with the human spread, colonisation and infection, not least of veterinarians,

highlighted.

Even pigs get a mention, dare we say blame, but we don't see many racehorses associating with pigs!

We have to look to an intermediate vector, such as colonised veterinarians.

The note at the foot of the report, here, illustrates the growing interest of Lloyds.

Rise of MRSA strain in European horses described

By Neil Clarkson on Apr 05, 2014 in Focus, Health

American pig genetics banned from the UK and Europe

Last week, almost unnoticed, probably because nobody wanted to make too much of it, there was a massive development in animal health worldwide:

One of North America's most important pig genetics companies put a temporary stop on all live exports, presumably including semen and embryos, from North America to Europe, including Britain.

Lack of tests meant they could not guarantee that their exports would be PEDv (porcine epidemic diarrhea virus) clean and they, very sensibly, decided to take a cautious and precautionary approach.

The new North American strain of PEDv is devastating pig herds in the USA and Canada.

It is hard to argue with their common sense and prudence. That they behave well, very quietly, is a reflection on the aura of secrecy and coercion common in the pig genetics industry.

However, it is not a statuary ban, merely the act of one single company, giving a temporary advantage to their competitors, who presumably continue to trade freely and risk introducing a serious disease to Europe or indeed to North America and elsewhere.

We live in a veterinary world where the most reckless dangerous veterinarians and their backers take the financial rewards.

Veterinarians are moving germplasm, that is live animals, semen and embryos, all over the place with recklessly issued health certification.

The world went a stage too far when they incorporated germplasm into free trade agreements. The assumption was that the international veterinary industry could control the risks and issue reliable
documentation. They said they could.

They could not.

They covered up the inadequacy of the controls by a barrage of grotesque fabrications and misleading public relations coupled with collusion with the veterinary civil service in the UK and elsewhere.

The co-infections from constant new virus importations require more and more antibiotics, with an ever rising antibiotic resistance taking its toll on the world's children, vulnerable and elderly.

So we continue the deception and now have to rely on voluntary bans.

Too little, too late, however well intentioned!

Voluntary bans may well work for PEDv - if the ban is widespread, obeyed and reliable - until the next mutated virus attacks across borders and moves from farm to farm, from species to species and
sometimes from animals to humans.

This is the scandal of the century.

TB from cats and dogs to children

We have been waiting for the initial reports of TB passing from pets to children to die down before commenting.

The reports have been a little confused and contradictory, with the British tabloids, to their credit, touching on some of the contradictions. In a wide ranging crisis we will just pick on the items that seem to have insufficient coverage and comment.

First, there seem to have been delays in publishing and some shenanigans.

Government has known about bTB in British cats for fifteen years, but gave it little publicity. There are signs that an old report was dug out of the archives and republished!

There was a feline outbreak in Berkshire dating back a year. The case of latent TB in the child, probably from a dog, was known about in November, but only published in late March.

Secondly, all the human cases had links to veterinary practices.

The cats seem to have acquired their TB when being treated. Commendably, the practice has said as much. The dog to child case is acknowledged to have a veterinary connection but no information is given.

Call for Reform

Now the writer has been emphasising the dangers to veterinarians and their families from zoonotic disease for years, not least the very serious Hepatitis E from British pigs. We did not expect domestic pets to emerge as a major risk.

In Britain, most small animal practice is dominated by young women, who are not going to be keen to take TB home to the young family.

They have the numbers, it is now up to them to use their votes to force veterinary reform from the top down by getting rid of their corrupt and dangerous establishment.

It is a veterinary crisis and we have not even talked about antibiotic resistant TB, badgers or cattle or the veterinary calls to slaughter all cats found to have TB, immediately.

This scandal has a long way to run.