Canadian catches H1N1 variant after close contact with pigs

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian man has been infected with an H1N1 variant influenza virus after having had close contact with pigs, a key health official for the province of Ontario said on Tuesday.

H1N1 is a swine flu virus responsible for a pandemic that broke out in 2009, starting in the United States and Mexico and spreading around the world in six weeks.

The virus also caused alarm the world pork trade three years ago with about a dozen countries temporarily restricting Canadian pork imports after the virus spread to a pig farm in the province of Alberta.

An influenza virus that normally circulates in animals is referred to as a variant virus when it infects humans, and is labeled H1N1v in that case, said Arlene King, Ontario's chief medical officer of health.

"I would like to reassure Ontarians that this variant influenza virus rarely spreads from animals to humans. Subsequent human-to-human transmission is also rare," she said in a statement.

"I would also like to stress that this is not a food safety issue; the consumption of properly cooked pork continues to be safe. Proper cooking of meats, including pork, kills all bacteria and viruses," she added.

The Canadian resident is being treated and closely monitored in a hospital in southwestern Ontario.

"The identification of this case is the result of the strength of our current surveillance system here in Ontario. It is not an unexpected occurrence and there have been a number of human infections with variant influenza viruses in the United States over the past year," she said.

Canada is the world's biggest exporter of live hogs, mostly to the United States, and the third-largest pork shipper.

Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the government would take steps to reassure its export markets.

"The biggest thing is we always tell people in Canada our food supply is safe, and the Americans work with us in that regard," he told Reuters. "We're very much integrated when it comes to the meat sectors back and forth across our borders. We work together on these issues all the time."

The case is unlikely to cause the same backlash against Canada by pork importers that it did in 2009, said Martin Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council.

"H1N1 sends off alarm bells in certain people's minds simply because of their recollection, but by no means is this looked at as something that will evolve into a big health undertaking that would have implications for trade," he said.

Canadian and Ontario government officials have not said where the infected man came in contact with pigs or if steps have been taken to quarantine or destroy the sick pigs.

Officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency could not immediately comment on the case.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer in Ottawa and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; editing by James Dalgleish, Gary Crosse)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ontarian-catches-h1n1-variant-close-contact-pigs-135333662.html

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