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SFH on human swine flu

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Following is a transcript of the remarks by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, at a stand-up media session after a public function today (December 11):

Reporter: (on the discovery of human swine flu in a local pig farm)

Secretary for Food and Health: We discovered this virus in the pigs of a local pig farm through our regular surveillance. The pigs are asymptomatic. They do not have any symptoms of flu at all. The workers in the pig farm also do not have any symptoms. It is very difficult to predict whether it was a human to pig transmission or a pig to pig transmission. Nevertheless, it is important to know that this regular surveillance is important. We have also advised that the pigs from this farm will not be sent to abattoir until we have cleared up the test to make sure that it is all negative before we can release those pigs for slaughtering. The other important message is to ensure the pig farmers to have access to the new vaccine. We encourage them to be vaccinated once we start the programme on December 21.

Reporter: Do you have any idea how the pig got infected?

Secretary for Food and Health: It is a local farm. This is definitely either through the workers who carried the virus into the farm or some imported pigs, usually the breeding pigs, from the Mainland which might also carry the virus. Since the discovery of the virus in pigs is quite well known now and it is reported in many countries, so this is not something that is unpredictable. But for us, whenever we find a virus in a new species or in a new environment, we should always be more cautious.

Reporter: Should the public be concerned?

Secretary for Food and Health: The public should not be unduly concerned because this virus is already in our society. It is in our community. The only thing is if it is happening in the farms, we want to make sure that it is detected early so that we can do something to control any outbreak early. With outbreak in the pigs and also perhaps the outbreak in humans, the chance of reassortment and new virus formation through mutation will be higher.

Reporter: (about the signing of consent form for human swine flu vaccination)

Secretary for Food and Health: If you look at the consent form carefully, it is definitely a so-called informed consent form, that is to make sure the person who receives the vaccination knows the effect as well as the side effect that have been explained to him through the healthcare worker. This is actually something quite routine for a lot of new medicine application and some procedures as well. It is important for us to let the public know what we are advising and what are the risks they are facing. As far as the vaccine is concerned, so far through the various vaccination programmes in many countries which have flu seasons earlier than us, there should be at least about 50 million people already receiving those vaccines. The side effects shown are relatively mild. The incidence of serious side effect is also quite low as comparable with seasonal flu vaccine.

Reporter: (about eating pork)

Secretary for Food and Health: I need to stress again that eating pork is completely safe. This is the same conclusion drawn by all the scientists and institutions like the World Health Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health. It is important that the public should not have a misconception that pork can transmit the virus.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)




Ends/Friday, December 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:19

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12 Apr 2019