Secretary of the T&T Veterinary Association (TTVA) Nicole Lambie fears that travel between Trinidad and Tobago and United States could increase our chances of contracting the deadly swine flu, which has claimed the lives of 68 Mexicans.

Also, eight people were confirmed to have swine flu in the United States; six in California and two in Texas, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lambie expressed concern about an influx of Americans and visitors entering T&T for business and pleasure at a time when the World Health Organisation director-general Dr Margaret Chan had issued a warning of the presence of swine flu in the US and Mexico, that had the potential to develop into a pandemic.

Chan said swine flu was an animal strain of the H1N1 virus and it had pandemic potential because it had been infecting people. “The fact that the swine flu is so close to Mexico and the US we have to take all the necessary precautions to safeguard ourselves,” Lambie insisted. “We have quite a big traffic between Texas and Trinidad because of the oil industry. That is even more disconcerting than Avian Influenza,” said Lambie. Swine flu is caused by a virus similar to a type of flu virus that infects people every year but is a strain typically found only in pigs—or in people who have direct contact with pigs. There have, however, been cases of person-to-person transmission of swine flu.

Reduce risk

The human influenza vaccine’s ability to protect against the new swine flu strain is unknown, and studies are ongoing. The new virus has genes from North American swine influenza, avian influenza, human influenza and a form of swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe. But while Lambie did not want to put down her guard, Ian Leong Poi, president of the Pork Producers Association and manager/director of Erin Farms Ltd, which processes a variety of meats, insisted that T&T’s chances of contracting the virus were slim because we don’t import live sows and boars.

“Sows are artificially inseminated. The sperms that are used must be certified and approved.” Poi said his farm had implemented strict bio-security measures, which are enforced.
“We don’t allow anyone to traffic on our farm thereby reducing the risk.” Admitting that the swine flu is a matter for concern, Poi said if monitored properly T&T would not be infected and affected. “We are all taking this very seriously. We have to be proactive.”

The businessman called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Health Ministry to secure T&T’s points of entry to ensure that people entering T&T’s soil were free from the disease. “These two ministries must take charge.” The president of veterinary association, Lisa Musai, said if a farmer suspects his pigs have the disease “it immediately sets off a contingency plan for an outbreak. Vets would do testing to see if the pigs are negative and quarantine the farm right away.” Musai couldn’t say if tests were being conducted on farms, stating that that directive would have to come from chief veterinary officer Dr Simone Titus.

No ban

In the midst of the swine flu outbreak, Musai said “we are going to test ourselves for avian influenza next month. Coming out of that we would talk about the swine influenza as well.” T&T, Musai said, has instituted measures to prevent the spread of bird flu and she was quite sure the same would apply for swine flu. She said measures to prevent or reduce the swine flu were heavy surveillance and regular testing of the animals. She appealed to the Ministry of Health and Agriculture Ministry to join forces and to sensitise the public.

She said a ban on the importation of pork products was not necessary. “The ban should only be enforced in countries where people have died from the virus.” Musai said T&T has a strict import criteria in place, where anyone bringing in pork or pork-related products must have health certificate and import permit from the Ministry of Agriculture. “There are some things we have in place to prevent and reduce the disease coming into the country.”

Pig farming is the second largest livestock farming in T&T to poultry. She warned that customers should only buy pork from reputable suppliers. Contacted yesterday, Health Minister Jerry Narace said his ministry was in the process of issuing a statement to the press about the swine flu. But up the late yesterday, the release was not sent to our office. Agriculture Minister Arnold Piggott was unavailable to comment as he was tied up in a one-day cocoa conference in Tobago.