Photo: Xaminmo, Flickr

Minnesota officials succeeded in fighting off the term “swine flu” earlier this year, but three piglets that were displayed at the Minnesota State Fair last month have been confirmed today as the nation’s first porcine victims of the H1N1 virus.

The little pigs may have gotten sick after being handled by humans, who experienced their own flu outbreak during the fair.

Federal authorities say people can’t get H1N1 by eating pork. And in any case, there’s no indication that the disease has spread to domestic herds.

McKenna, writing at the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) Web site at the U of M:

… [M]ajor manufacturing and regulatory hurdles lie in the path toward achieving a pandemic vaccine, hurdles that have been recognized by governments for years but never successfully dealt with. … [M]anufacturers could be asked to short-circuit work on the seasonal vaccine in order to begin handling the seed strain of the novel virus, a move that would reduce the amount of vaccine available in the northern hemisphere next winter. … Rumors are circulating among some flu scientists that the strain being used at the CDC for the vaccine seed strain is not growing well in eggs. … That production will go smoothly is not guaranteed: Since 2000, seasonal flu-vaccine delivery has been delayed several times because strains did not grow as well as predicted or eggs proved vulnerable to contamination.

Here’s a portion of Prof. Peter Davies‘ April 28 pork-industry presentation, transcribed from the audio/slide webinar that is linked here:

Genetically, certainly, there is evidence of a swine origin for the virus, but how the disease is unfolding in Mexico and other places appears to be almost entirely at this stage from human-to-human transmission. … But I think we’ll probably have to be having to deal with the fact that the media is running with the swine flu name. … This is probably a message that’s going to be hard to effectively transmit but needs to just be repeated: Influenza is not spread through food.

And here’s the video from “reidthebead” in Orono (UPDATE: The vlogger has removed it from YouTube):

If the anti-immigrant reactions to the outbreak of H1N1 influenza — “swine flu” — are any indication, advocates for immigration reform are going to have an uphill battle in Congress this year.

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship held its first hearing on Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The hearing was full of powerful arguments for why comprehensive immigration reform would boost the U.S. economy, enhance public safety and reinforce American values of hard work, family unity and entrepreneurship. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified to how legalizing undocumented immigrants would boost economic conditions for everyone, while Thomas Manger, Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief and Chairman of the legislative committee for the Major Cities Chiefs’ Association, testified that legalization would improve relationships between local communities and police officers and help law enforcement do its job.

But one witness, Joel Hunter, a church pastor who spoke eloquently of the humanitarian need for immigration reform, alluded to the dark side of the debate that could ultimately torpedo the reform effort: “A broken [immigration] system tempts many to predatory practices,” he said, including “the talk show hosts that increase their fame and fortune by picturing those without the proper papers only as conniving and dangerous parasites…”

The swine flu crisis this week played perfectly into the hands of those Hunter described.

When it comes to immigration, the facts often don’t seem to matter. Whether it’s a struggling economy or the threat of a pandemic, the crisis of the day becomes fodder for restrictionist activists to claim that immigration reform – particularly if it involves legalization, or what they derisively call “amnesty” – will only exacerbate the United States’ problems.

As Media Matters documented, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage led the pack last Friday, saying: “Make no mistake about it: Illegal aliens are the carriers of the new strain of human-swine avian flu from Mexico.”

Never mind that the first reported cases in the United States came from schoolchildren at a New York City Catholic School who’d traveled to Mexico for spring break. “If we lived in saner times, the borders would be closed immediately,” insisted Savage, who went on to ask, “could this be a terrorist attack through Mexico? Could our dear friends in the radical Islamic countries have concocted this virus and planted it in Mexico knowing that you, [Homeland Security Secretary] Janet Napolitano, would do nothing to stop the flow of human traffic from Mexico?”

Immigration restrictionists unabashedly argue that the crisis of the day — whatever it may be — is the fault of illegal immigrants.

As the fear of swine flue spread on Monday, Fox News anchor Glenn Beck asked on his radio show: “Gee, it would be nice if we had border security now, wouldn’t it?” He went on: “But if you are a family and you’re down in Mexico and you’re dying and those in America are not, why wouldn’t you flood this border? Why wouldn’t you come across this border? It’s exactly what I warned of — different scenario, different reason of — I was talking about economic collapse. People start to come and rush this border, then what happens?”

William Gheen, head of the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, on Monday blamed the Obama administration for risking American lives by its “failure to secure our borders.” In a press release issued Tuesday, he called on Congress to “demand that the southern border be closed to all non-essential traffic and that military troops are deployed to stop the nightly flow of thousands of illegal immigrants into America.”

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) soon chimed in, insisting that the U.S. government close the U.S.-Mexico border until the threat is resolved: “The epicenter of this outbreak is still in Mexico and while we now have several confirmed cases in the United States, we must consider all options to help reduce the number of new cases entering our nation,” said Massa. “I’m glad that the White House has issued a travel advisory and is conducting passive screening at the border, but I think we should consider stronger measures at the border. I am in favor of using all tools available to reduce the spread of Swine Flu.”

Then on Wednesday, The Washington Times, under the banner “Border Still Open,” opened their story on the swine flu outbreak saying, “U.S. officials say traffic across the southern border will not be interrupted by the swine flu outbreak, despite rising numbers of Mexican-origin infections in the U.S. and a warning that the number of infections could reach international pandemic levels.”

And Greta Van Sustren’s show on Fox News yesterday ran with the headline: “Seal the Border?”

Even The Los Angeles Times ran the headline: Swine flu: Time to close the U.S.-Mexico border?

In fact, experts on infectious diseases say that closing down the legal U.S.-Mexico border — even if it were possible — would only exacerbate the problem. “There is no connection between the severity of a pandemic and border crossings,” Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and a longtime adviser to the U.S. government on public health told the Public Radio International show “The World” on Tuesday.

Closing the border could actually inhibit the United States’ ability to obtain what it needs to treat patients and stop the swine flu’s spread. “Few people realize how many of the medical products we use in this country are made outside of the country,” Osterholm said. These products include the circuits for mechanical ventilators that help people breathe in a severe case of the flu. “One of largest producers of circuits in the world is in Mexico,” said Osterholm. “So if we suddenly shut down the border we’d limit how many ventilators we could provide.” Despite those ranting to the contrary, “Border closings in and of themselves do not accomplish walling yourself off from that virus.”  As President Obama said at his press conference on Wednesday, closing the border now would be “akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States.”

Still, it’s difficult to convince border restrictionists and their high-pitched advocates that anything but sealing the U.S.-Mexico border is the solution, whether the problem is a flu pandemic, drug-related violence or high unemployment.

At the Senate hearing on Thursday, although different witnesses emphasized different aspects of immigration reform, seven of eight witnesses, representing a broad range of interests, from labor to law enforcement to civil rights and business, supported some form of comprehensive reform that would provide a path to legalization for many of the nation’s current undocumented immigrants. To be sure, there are policy differences, particularly regarding how many temporary “guest” workers should be allowed, for example — businesses want more, unions want fewer — but there appears to be, at least among most serious advocates, legislators and policymakers, consensus about the need for comprehensive reform.

The biggest hurdle may be getting such sober, rational policy arguments heard above the alarmist.

Daphne Eviatar is a law reporter for the Washington Independent.

It’s work that could help provide important clues to a “novel” disease of near-pandemic proportions that exhibits changes that so far have experts around the world guessing.

“This investigation that we’re doing here is crucial to understanding how this virus (spreads),” Magnan said.

She said despite tests on others, the person confirmed today as having the “novel H1N1 influenza” is still the only “probable” case found in the state.

The commissioner spoke at a press conference in Cold Spring this morning after a meeting with state and local officials. The town is home to Rocori Middle School, with which officials say the person with the new flu is “associated.”

“There will be more cases,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty predicted, repeating a warning that State Epidemiologist Dr. Ruth Lynfield made yesterday. But he said officials are certain of very little because of the unpredictable “wave phenomenon” attributed to the disease.

The governor was careful not to reveal information about the infected person, who he said “may not be a student” at Rocori Middle School. The school will remain closed for seven days, he said, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevenetion recommendations.

The board at neighboring St. Boniface Elementary School, which like the middle school was closed yesterday and today, will decide this afternoon whether to remain closed.

Rocori High School, site of a fatal school shooting incident in 2003, isn’t affected. “We don’t have any concern about elementary or high school (infections),” said Rocori Superintendent Scott Staska.

Asked about testing of the infected person’s family, Magnan answered only that that was part of the investigation.

Magnan, who said she arrived late at the press conference because she had been in a bathroom following her own advice about washing hands thoroughly, offered this declaration: “We are ready. We are ready as a state. We are ready as a region.”

One way the state is more ready than it was yesterday at this time: “All swine influenza (Web) pages were updated to reflect the new name of H1N1 novel influenza,” according to an e-mail from the Minnesota Department of Health sent Wednesday at 7:02 p.m.

(Wikipedia)

Minnesota’s top health officials are in close communication with the Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta about the new flu that has killed more than 100 people in Mexico. But they aren’t calling the flu by the same name. The CDC calls it “swine flu,” but Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Sanne Magnan says the official state term is “H1N1 novel influenza.”

“We’re trying to get away from the term ‘swine flu,’” Magnan said at a press conference today with Gov. Tim Pawlenty and State Epidemiologist Dr. Ruth Lynfield.

“’Swine flu’ gives a connotation that it shouldn’t have,” Magnan said. “People wonder about eating pork. … We really want to get away from it.”

A question from the Minnesota Independent prompted another visit to the topic later in the press conference. “Swine flu” can lead people to associate the disease with eating pork, officials said, making “H1N1 novel influenza” a better description – though “it’s a mouthful.”

Also, the flu spreads from person to person, so the word “swine” might confuse that message about transmission, officials said.

State officials expect the CDC may come around to Minnesota’s terminology in the next few days.

The World Health Organization has suggested another term: “North American flu.”

A possible reason for the name change: The “swine flu” label has the nation’s pork industry squealing, as hog prices plummet in apparent worry over public misperceptions that pork is unsafe to eat. The Des Moines Register reports that the price of hogs, once as high as $80 per hundredweight, dropped from $69 per hundredweight Friday to $66 per hundredweight Monday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and price of futures contracts for lean hogs dropped five cents per pound, to 66 cents, in the past two days.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was emphatic:

I want to reiterate the same message to our trading partners — our pork and pork products are safe. The discovery of this virus in humans is not a basis for restricting imports of commercially produced U.S. pork and pork products.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano weighed in as well, using Minnesota’s preferred term:

You should also know that you cannot get H1N1 from eating pork. Pork products are perfectly safe.

The movement away from the term “swine flu” is moving fast in an attempt to outpace the growing list of countries banning American pork.

But it’s got a ways to go: the Minnesota Department of Health’s Web site, like the University of Minnesota‘s, calls it swine flu. They’re in good company. The federal government’s main Web site for citizens to get information about the outbreak still goes by the address http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/.