Egypt orders slaugter of 300,000 [not guinea] pigs

[Dr Doughnut]

(Edit to moderators: this could be better in the 'In the news' section)

Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu

Excerpt:

CAIRO – Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said.
The move immediately provoked resistance from pig farmers. At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, farmers refused to cooperate with Health Ministry workers who came to slaughter the animals and the workers left without carrying out the government order.
"It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses," Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Although I consume pork (Save that for another thread, I really would not like to discuss vegetarianism), I do feel that Egypts actions are reckless, illogical, useless, and cruel. H1N1 does not spread through the consumption of pork, and it is probably very hard for it to spread from pig to person. H1N1 is now human-to-human transmittable and requires no contact with swine, so I think that Egypt either is being stupid, or they are trying to do religious retribution upon pigs, which are deemed dirty by Islam.

[vicky2]

but the thing is, you cant get the swine flu from eating pork so it really makes no sense at all

[Dr Doughnut]

Originally Posted by vicky2

but the thing is, you cant get the swine flu from eating pork so it really makes no sense at all

Actually, I kind of already said that

H1N1 does not spread through the consumption of pork

[vicky2]

sorry bout tht
i missed tht part :P

[MCR_Rox]

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like people are way over-worried about the swine flu thing. I'm probably wrong, though.

[Wheekie]

Just another example of poor animals suffering because of the stupidity and cruelty of man.

[Paula]

Originally Posted by Dr Doughnut

Actually, I kind of already said that

And that means it can't be said again?

And, yes, the slaughtering of these pigs is ridiculous, careless, you name it. But how is it that much different than the fate they'd face anyway? They are raised on pig farms for food, they'd be slaughtered anyway. This just means they won't become food, which might mean the farmers won't get money for them? That part doesn't seem so bad to me.

I'd like to see the pigs live, absolutely, but they are being raised to be slaughtered anyway.

And it does seem to be an overreaction to the swine flu, but this is a country that's been dealing with the bird flu for quite some time and doing what they think they can to avoid the same happening with the swine flu.

It sucks, no matter how you look at it, but perhaps it would be better to look into ways to minimize production of animals for food, at least in the countries (like this one) where it's a very reasonable possibility, than judge what a country is doing to save itself, rightly or wrongly.

[Susan9608]

This swine flu hype is totally asinine. Every year seasonal influenza is pandemic. EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. And there are many deaths each year from seasonal flu. This past year (the 08-09 season) seasonal flu was not even treatable with tamiflu and had to be treated with relenza. Swine flu is treatable by BOTH. Everyone is freaking out for no reason, other than the fact that this strain is surfacing late and is called "swine" flu. The media should be ashamed for creating such a panic.

[akstrohm]

This swine flu hasn't actually been isolated from pigs at all yet. It gets the name because some of the genetic components come from other swine flu strains (as well as human flu strains). But I agree with Paula--even if it doesn't make sense, the pigs will eventually be slaughtered anyway.

And Susan, it's hard to say how problematic this strain will be. The difference between this strain and the seasonal ones is that this one kills young, healthy people due to a massive cytokine release. That is very different from the deaths seen in the young and elderly that the normal seasonal flu strains cause. Just because it's treatable with two antivirals now does not mean that it will continue to be. Flu strains mutate very rapidly. Finally, in past pandemics, the second or third waves tended to be much worse than the first. I'm not saying this is reason to panic. It just is not currently possible to say how dangerous it may become in the future.

[Susan9608]

For accurate information about this influenza outbreak, people should refer to the CDC:

CDC H1N1 Flu

[sophistacavy]

The media is making this "swine" flu out to be the next possible black plague.

People don't think about why it is spreading more effectively and killing people more effectively than in countries like the U.S.A. Mexico is not known for it's sanitary conditions, nor for it's advancement in technology and in whatever health care system they might have it place. It is (I've heard) a dirty country (compared to countries like U.S.A, etc), so of course this illness will spread worse there.

In my opinion, I don't think this swine flu is a big deal at all. I think the media perhaps was running out of ideas, so when news of this first popped up, they over reacted. If Egypt felt that was a good way to protect their people, then good for them. Bird flu turned out to be a disaster, so I'm sure after being scarred by that, they wouldn't want to take any chances.
The pigs were going to die eventually, so nobody is really affected by this massive sudden slaughter.

I hate pork chops anyways. They're always so dry, no matter where I got them from. I can't even swallow it because it is so dry, and I have dry mouth anyways, so I just gave up.

And as long as you don't eat undercooked pork, like always, you will be fine. Cooking it kills anything in there that could be harmful. The internal temperature should be 160 degrees F.

[fieryone]

Originally Posted by Susan9608

This swine flu hype is totally asinine. Every year seasonal influenza is pandemic. EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. And there are many deaths each year from seasonal flu. This past year (the 08-09 season) seasonal flu was not even treatable with tamiflu and had to be treated with relenza. Swine flu is treatable by BOTH. Everyone is freaking out for no reason, other than the fact that this strain is surfacing late and is called "swine" flu. The media should be ashamed for creating such a panic.

If I could thank you more than once, I would. Schools in my state are being closed because of this. In my friend's town schools were closed because a janitor in one school basically sneezed after a vacation to Mexico and they are now closing the entire district and banning kids from that town who attend an interdistrict magnet school in another town!

There are 141 confirmed cases of this treatable flu out of 300 million people in the U.S. and 363 cases worldwide. It's crazy the hysteria that the media is causing over this. We're getting breaking news alerts when someone "may" have swine flu and to date, there still have been no confirmed cases here in CT.

And re the OP: it's a shame that ignorance and hysteria has led to the useless slaughter of these animals. I also am not going to debate vegetarianism vs. omnivorism, but I would prefer that if an animal is going to be slaughtered, that it not just be left to rot for nothing.

[AnimalHouse36]

I agree with Paula.

If any thing this is better. These pigs were marked for slaughter.

I do feel that Egypts actions are reckless, illogical, useless, and cruel.

What a coincidence. I feel the same way about all animal slaughtering.

If anything this is better. The factory farmers will make no money off of this.

As for this whole h1N1 nonsense, there has been ONE confirmed case in CT. And the man has come in no contact with anyone besides his wife.

I mean a whole plane was turned around because somebody didn't feel good. I mean my goodness all this hype! Someody sneezed! Call the docter!

[TheJiraks]

Saying that the swine flu fears have gotten out of hand is an understatement. I read in an article yesterday (on CNN I think) that 36,000 people die each year from the common seasonal flu...in the US alone! Worlwide it's over 350,000!! Hmmmm.....I haven't seen any numbers even close to that with the swine flu. I think it's another case of the media needs something to report on, so they picked this.

[fieryone]

Originally Posted by AnimalHouse36

As for this whole h1N1 nonsense, there has been ONE confirmed case in CT. And the man has come in no contact with anyone besides his wife.

Yup. There it is. But they say his symptoms are relatively mild and he never needed to be hospitalized. The madness that the media creates never ceases to amaze me. My husband and I don't even watch the local news anymore.

[TwilightStar]

My biology teacher said it was concerning because there is no vaccine , while there is treatment. This is all good and all, but viruses constantly mutate and it's a matter of time before it evolves to where it can't be treated. Then it could be a serious problem. Yes, the hype in the media is a little over done, but better safe and sorry.

[akstrohm]

The total death toll is not the point at all. It's the population that is infected--young, healthy people--that is significant. Because future waves are typically worse than initial waves and because the virus could easily mutate to a more dangerous form (more contagious, more deadly, resistant to current treatments), it is simply too early to tell how problematic it will become. Sure, some of the media coverage may be excessive, but that does not mean that this isn't something to be taken seriously. You can't just compare it to seasonal flu strains in terms of the number of people infected and draw your conclusions from that. It doesn't make any sense.