MEXICO-World Farm Trade Agency: Pig Cull Unnecessary, Unhelpful
The world’s paramount agency in the trade of farm animals on Thursday said culling pigs in the belief this would stop the spread of so-called swine flu was a mistake. In a statement issued after Egypt declared it would slaughter all pigs in the country, the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE, said culling "will not help to guard against public or animal health risks presented by this novel A/H1N1 influenza virus. "Such action is inappropriate," it said.
Mexico Steps Up Emergency Measures Over Swine Flu Epidemic
MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said Wednesday that the government is stepping up restrictions on activities to confront a swine flu epidemic that has killed at least eight people. At a press conference, Cordova said that the number of confirmed cases of people with swine flu in Mexico has risen to 99, of whom eight have died.
WALL STREET JOURNAL - Mexico ’s top government epidemiologist said Wednesday that it is "highly improbable" that a farm in the Mexican state of Veracruz operated by Smithfield Foods Inc. is responsible for the nation’s swine flu outbreak. Miguel Angel Lezana, the government’s chief epidemiologist, said in an interview that pigs at the farm are from North America, while the genetic material in the virus is from Europe and Asia . Veracruz is home to the illness’s earliest known victim so far, though Mr. Lezana on Wednesday said a Bangladeshi street vendor in Mexico City was among the first victims. Locals have been pointing fingers at the pork-processing giant in the nearby village of Perote, run by Smithfield and the Mexican company Agroindustrias Unidas de Mexico S.A, as the source of the flu.
