Novel H1N1 virus scares consumers and farmers alike
by Sami Jo Freeman, posted Sept. 16, 2009
At the beginning of this year, rumors were heard across the United States of a virus spreading like wildfire across the border in Mexico. This virus had many of the same symptoms of seasonal influenza, but the rapid rate at which it spread was causing concern.
Testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs (swine) in North America causing officials to refer to it as the “swine flu,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Web site.
But further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs.
What is H1N1?
It was difficult to pin a name on this virus, which has been labeled: novel H1N1, Influenza A and swine flu. In recent weeks, officials have settled on H1N1 as the correct name.
The word “novel” means it’s a new strain of influenza. It is very likely that more humans will be susceptible to getting this sickness because their bodies haven’t had a chance to build immunities to its specific proteins. It is spread through human-to-human transmissions.
This is a respiratory illness, and is not a food-borne illness. Numerous official sources from the CDC to the World Health Organization to the USDA have assured us there is no evidence that proves swine have anything to do with the spread of novel H1N1.
Symptoms of novel H1N1 are similar to those of the seasonal influenza virus: fever, headache, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, fatigue and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting occur, according to the University of Missouri Health Center. The CDC recommends that individuals 19 to 24 years old receive vaccinations.
Further research has shown that H1N1 is a combination of genetic material from swine, birds and humans. Consequently, government officials insisted that its name change from the popular “swine flu” to the proper H1N1.
On June 11, 2009, the WHO officially announced that a pandemic of the novel H1N1 virus was in progress.
Economic Impact
Since the beginning of its wide-spread coverage in the media, H1N1 has seen a lot of highs and lows. It has taken pork, beef and poultry meat sales with it, and left them at rock bottom.
Chris Chinn, a local hog farmer from Clarence, Mo., has witnessed this media driven pandemic.
“My family farm, like many other family farms, has felt the devastating blow of H1N1 being inappropriately called ‘swine flu,’” Chinn said. “Not only are hog farmers feeling the financial shock, but we are also feeling the emotional impact. Each time the media inappropriately calls the flu by the wrong name, they deliver another forceful blow to hog farmers. We are working very hard to educate the media and public about the H1N1 virus.
“The H1N1 virus is not in pork,” Chinn continues. “H1N1 influenza is not a food-borne illness. The safety of pork and pork products has been affirmed by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization.”
Chinn said that typically hog farmers see much success over the summertime. After years of economic downturn within this market, it seemed like this summer was key to hog farmers everywhere. According to Chinn, hog farmers across the state have lost more than half of their accumulated equity since September 2007.
“Cash prices fell sharply in the first three weeks of the crisis,” Chinn said.
The H1N1 virus took the beef industry victim as well. Gregg Doud, chief economist with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said that Russia closed its borders to beef imports due to the H1N1 virus.
“One could extrapolate that this could have cost us about 1,000 metric tons in beef trade at a cost of $800,000 to maybe $1 million,” Doud said.
Even though Russia was the only country to shut down beef imports, total United States pork exports have been the true issue with the H1N1 virus impact. Economic research produced by the Missouri Pork Association showed that consumer demand within the U.S. has actually risen 4.2 percent. So, price declines are coming straight from reduced exports from the pork industry. The report also shows that “sum of all actual and projected revenue reductions for the period from April 24 to the end of 2009 now stands at $2.385 billion.”
“On April 24, the first day the flu outbreak received wide media attention, the future markets for hogs crashed and they have been much lower than is typically seen during the summer months as a result,” Chinn said. “Hog farmers desperately needed a summer rally to return profit to our farms after the past couple years. The other name for H1N1 stole this from us. The H1N1 flu outbreak, mislabeled ’swine‘ flu, intensified the pork industry’s financial problems.”
In response to the pork industry crisis, Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, announced on Sept. 3 that the U.S. government will purchase $30 million worth of pork products within fiscal year 2009 for federal food and nutrition assistance programs.
News Coverage Today
The dispute between using H1N1 versus “swine flu” still exists today, approximately five months after its first appearance. Media outlets in the Columbia area have developed policies on how to deal with the discrepancy.
Curtis Varns, KMIZ news director, said that his newsroom’s policy is to use H1N1 as a first reference and then reporters have an option to use “swine flu” or "virus known as the swine flu" as a second reference. On the other hand, the Columbia Tribune, and KOMU 8 continue to follow the Associated Press’ policy by leading with “swine flu” and then following up with H1N1, according to Lora Wegman with the Tribune and Holly Edgell from KOMU 8.
The Columbia Missourian has vowed to use the phrase “H1N1 ‘swine’ flu” in stories, and will not list the word “swine” in any headlines because of it’s inaccuracy and detrimental effect on the swine industry.
University of Missouri Plans and Advice
MU Student Health is urging students that suspect having H1N1 to stay at home until their fever stays below 100 degrees for 24 hours, without using fever-reducing medications. Further advice from the Health Center is to practice proper hand-washing procedures or use hand sanitizer as an alternative. The site also urges students to cover their mouths and noses when sneezing or coughing, and to avoid touching the eyes, mouth and nose. Vaccinations will be available to students in late October, so avoid contact with ill people until that time.
Visit the MU Student Health Center’s Web site for more information on campus policies.
