Muskingum County Fair officials promoting swine flu precautions - Zanesville Times Recorder

ZANESVILLE -- The Muskingum County Fair Board is taking extra precautions this year to protect fairgoers from diseases such as swine flu.

"We are adding another wash station by the hog barn," said Troy Brock, a fair board director and chairman of the swine barn. "Consulting with our fair veterinarian, Dr. Rachel Elliott, we are instructing everybody to wash their hands after handling hogs and not eating in the barns. These recommendations are also coming from state veterinarian Dr. Tony Forshey."

The safeguards come on the heels of the recent swine flu scare at the Butler County Fair, in which 10 people are among the suspected swine flu cases. The Ohio State Fair also sent home two pigs with the flu this past week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking sporadic cases since 2011, when the new strain first was seen in people. Officials said 29 human cases of the new strain of swine flu have been confirmed in the U.S. in the past year, most of them children.

Dr. Joseph Bresee, the CDC's chief of influenza epidemiology, said humans cannot contract the disease from eating pork, but they can get it from being around sick pigs. Of the 29 cases reported in the U.S. within the past year, Bresee said people "had swine contact before getting ill and most of that contact was at county fairs."

With summer and fall fairs, "we're likely to see additional cases," he said.

Health officials are reminding fairgoers to be careful around pigs because of a new flu spreading from the animals to people. The new strain has a gene from the 2009 pandemic strain H1N1 that might let it spread more easily than pig viruses normally do. Pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems should be particularly careful.

Vicki Whitacre, Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department medical director, said symptoms in humans include fever, headache, body ache and sore throat.

Brock said signs of infected hogs include a runny nose and sneezing.

Brock said he hopes the issue won't deter people from attending the fair but urges them to take extra safety measures. He said the fair board began placing washing stations around the fairgrounds three years ago when H1N1 became a growing concern. He said there are at least six wash stations on the fairgrounds -- near the barn areas -- and more might be added. Each station has soap and water.

"When there were concerns about H1N1, we got a lot of questions about what people could do to prevent it," Brock said. "We held a meeting with Dr. Elliott and that helped a lot of people."

He said a special meeting will take place at 11:45 a.m. Sunday at the swine show arena to discuss prevention methods with exhibitors and visitors.

He and Whitacre said swine flu has not been an issue at the fair, and officials are not aware of any cases.

Both reiterated the need for constant hand washing as the best prevention and protection method. Whitacre said hand sanitizer also is an effective alternative but should not always be substituted for soap and water.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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