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influenza

  • Thread starter Thread starter gsgs
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I was reading this:

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0604157103v1

they are using guinea pigs now instead of mice for influenza-experiments !

pigs do get influenza, this is a big problem.
It is supposed that human flu went to pigs in 1918 and that there
are no reports of flu in pigs (AFAIK) before 1900.
Since then flu occasionally jumps from humans to pigs and vice versa.
In 1976 the USA set up a program to vaccinate the whole
population for "swine-flu", this was abandonned because of side-effects
after about 40million people had been vaccinated.
 
gsgs said:
I was reading this:

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0604157103v1

they are using guinea pigs now instead of mice for influenza-experiments !

pigs do get influenza, this is a big problem.
It is supposed that human flu went to pigs in 1918 and that there
are no reports of flu in pigs (AFAIK) before 1900.
Since then flu occasionally jumps from humans to pigs and vice versa.
In 1976 the USA set up a program to vaccinate the whole
population for "swine-flu", this was abandonned because of side-effects
after about 40million people had been vaccinated.
Click to expand...

Ah, lovely bedtime reading. The article quite clearly states that "In an article published in 1919 that details the progression of the 1918 influenza epidemic at Camp Cody, New Mexico, the authors describe a parallel outbreak of pneumonial disease among their laboratory guinea pigs (16). Although anecdotal, the account suggested that the infection was passed from guinea pig to guinea pig". Pneumonial disease is not necessarily (and unlikely to be) flu, nor was there anything other than anecdotal evidence to suggest the infection could be passed on.

There is absolutely nothing in this publication to suggest that the strain of flu they used can pass between humans and pigs or vice versa. What it did prove was that the virus will replicate in the host pigs and can pass to other unaffected pigs without symptoms. The only pigs that showed symptoms were a bunch of deliberately inbred (and probably immunosuppressed) pigs and there was no backup for this in the article.

The bottom line is that care should be taken when handling pigs when you're ill. Not because they can catch your cold or flu, but because it's often difficult to tell the difference between a bacterial infection that they CAN get and viral infection that they can't.
 
This is the problem I had with Cuzzy. Emily had an ear infection which is obviously bacterial and Cuzzy is slowly getting over an ear infection which to me seems related! However, my vet dismissed it when I asked him and said it was rare.
 
> There is absolutely nothing in this publication to suggest that the strain of flu they used
> can pass between humans and pigs or vice versa

huh ?
they actually demonstrated how to infect guinea pigs by the airborne route.
Cages were 3 feet apart, just breathing.
That pretty much suggests that this sort of guinea pigs can easily get this strain
of influenza from humans,pigs,maybe birds,dogs
 
gsgs said:
> There is absolutely nothing in this publication to suggest that the strain of flu they used
> can pass between humans and pigs or vice versa

That pretty much suggests that this sort of guinea pigs can easily get this strain
of influenza from humans,pigs,maybe birds,dogs
Click to expand...

It suggests nothing of the sort. The guinea pigs were "innoculated intranasally" which means that the virus was artificially introduced into their respiratory system. They did not get it "from humans". It passed from guinea pig to another guinea pig, not to humans.

You cannot make assumptions like that without evidence. There is none. The only animals ever found to transmit flu to humans were pigs (NOT guinea pigs, the ones that go "oink, oink", not "wheek, wheek" http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/zoonoses/influenza/swineflu.html) and birds (http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/zoonoses/influenza/avianflu.html).

I think it's very odd that you would come on here in your first three posts and give out information that could potentially scare people who come on here and take what they see as gospel.
 
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/13/8/pdfs/1219.pdf
...
Our results demonstrate that dogs are susceptible to infection with avian influenza (H5N1) virus and can shed virus from the nose without showing apparent signs of disease
...
Therefore, dogs’ contact with birds and poultry should be avoided in areas with influenza (H5N1) outbreaks to prevent possible spread of virus and human exposure to influenza (H5N1)virus that might have been adapted to mammals
...
-----------------------------------------------------

let me add, that there is some virological evidence for a hidden mammalean reservoir
of H5N1 in Indonesia.

dogs ? cats ? pigs ? guinea pigs ?
 
Can I just say that if everyone just takes really good care when they have colds, coughs, flu, anything else (!) then this shouldn't be a problem. I have kept piggies for twenty years and in all that time have never cross infected any of them.
 
influenza is not so common, it is caused by different strains,
most common in humans H1N1 and H3N2 currently.
It could be that guinea pigs are almost asymptomatic with it
but could still spread it - in theory.
It could depend on the sort of guinea pig.

There is concern, that H5N1 might cause a pandemic (I estimate 7% probability
per year) and if it does and guinea pigs are spreaders, then they may have to be culled...

same for dogs,cats, other pets. H5N1 is really evil.
 
gsgs said:
influenza is not so common, it is caused by different strains,
most common in humans H1N1 and H3N2 currently.
It could be that guinea pigs are almost asymptomatic with it
but could still spread it - in theory.
It could depend on the sort of guinea pig.

There is concern, that H5N1 might cause a pandemic (I estimate 7% probability
per year) and if it does and guinea pigs are spreaders, then they may have to be culled...

same for dogs,cats, other pets. H5N1 is really evil.
Click to expand...

Believe me NOBODY will cull my piglet!
 
As a mother H5N1 has concerned me and if there is a pandemic then I have an emergency plan. I will not go out, Peter will not go to to work, we will live on dried foods until the virus passes. Nobody gets in nobody gets out and nobody is going to cull my pigs! Hell will freeze over before then! :tickedoff:
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
As a mother H5N1 has concerned me and if there is a pandemic then I have an emergency plan. I will not go out, Peter will not go to to work, we will live on dried foods until the virus passes. Nobody gets in nobody gets out and nobody is going to cull my pigs! Hell will freeze over before then! :tickedoff:
Click to expand...

Here here! O0
 
My Dad thinks I'm mad, Peter has to earn morning he tells me! I said I haven't had children to loose them to a virus such as this! No way! And all the work I put in with the pigguns I feel the same way about them! I can imagine my mother would continue to shop though and not think there was anything wrong! ;D
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
My Dad thinks I'm mad, Peter has to earn morning he tells me! I said I haven't had children to loose them to a virus such as this! No way! And all the work I put in with the pigguns I feel the same way about them! I can imagine my mother would continue to shop though and not think there was anything wrong! ;D
Click to expand...

Hopefully it will never actually come to that but at least you're well prepared and have a good action (or non-action!) plan!
 
You're more likely to be hit by a Boeing 747 while driving down a country road than you are to catch H5N1 from a bird let alone a guinea pig.

Are we going to cull all the humans, dogs and cats infected with it? I think not. Stop the scaremongering and have the courtesy to introduce yourself before posting such a load of diatribe (for "diatribe" read "an offensive word that is a synonym for faeces").
 
PLEASE,NO MORE ON THIS SUBJECT.iT IS SCAREMONGERING ,AND THERE IS NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE ANY OF THIS.
 
Hehe DSL you are more likely to be hit by a cow which has falled 2000ft off a mountainside (it happened, it was on the news yesterday!)

Agree it is scaremongering and believe me I've read enough on H5N1 to know the risks. When it was first reported I freaked, who wouldn't be terrified about it? But we are still waiting for it to happen. And usually when there is a slow news day we hear more about H5N1.

Louise
x
 
OMG Louise falled is not a word! :P <~~~Slaps herself And I wanna write. ;D

Scaremongering is panicking people into believing something will happen when it probably wont! Just watch Sky News for ideas on Scaremongering, always makes me laugh! We are doomed I tell you, no wonder I'm mad! :D
 
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