Saturday, May 10, 2003
WOULD CHINA ADMIT IT IF ITS
PIG POPULATION CARRIED
THE SARS-ASSOCIATED
CORONAVIRUS?
If history is an indication, the answer is yes--after they have been forced to. China has had many weeks to figure this out. The fact that food handlers seemed to be disproportionately affected by SARS should have been a hint that they should look at the first obvious suspects in the kitchen: ducks, chicken, and PIGS. It is unlikely that all the foodhandlers who came down with SARS were preparing owl tartare or tureen of alley cat. Unfortunately, the agricultural researchers in America seem about as eager to find out. Call up American pig researchers and ask them about SARS and pigs and you will get an earful of crankiness.
The FAO issued a fuzzy interview about the near impossibility of livestock transmission. Yeah, right. There's no evidence that SARS is being tramsmitted by livestock, but on the other hand, no research to determine if it can be transmitted by livestock has been completed. Research is under way, they say, rather grumpily. It will be interesting to see how they try and spin the story if livestock can carry the SARS-associated coronavirus.
An still, no scientist is willing to stand up and say that research exists which suggests the coronaviruses go back and forth between people and pigs with alarming ease.
PIG POPULATION CARRIED
THE SARS-ASSOCIATED
CORONAVIRUS?
If history is an indication, the answer is yes--after they have been forced to. China has had many weeks to figure this out. The fact that food handlers seemed to be disproportionately affected by SARS should have been a hint that they should look at the first obvious suspects in the kitchen: ducks, chicken, and PIGS. It is unlikely that all the foodhandlers who came down with SARS were preparing owl tartare or tureen of alley cat. Unfortunately, the agricultural researchers in America seem about as eager to find out. Call up American pig researchers and ask them about SARS and pigs and you will get an earful of crankiness.
The FAO issued a fuzzy interview about the near impossibility of livestock transmission. Yeah, right. There's no evidence that SARS is being tramsmitted by livestock, but on the other hand, no research to determine if it can be transmitted by livestock has been completed. Research is under way, they say, rather grumpily. It will be interesting to see how they try and spin the story if livestock can carry the SARS-associated coronavirus.
An still, no scientist is willing to stand up and say that research exists which suggests the coronaviruses go back and forth between people and pigs with alarming ease.
Friday, May 09, 2003
We're back! This site is once again in the top
listings at Google (KEYWORDS: PIGS, SARS)
after completely disappearing!
THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IS
LOOKING FOR PIGS IN CHINA TO TEST
FOR THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS
Accoding to an article by Rob Stein in the Contra Costa Times, "In southern China, teams [from the World Health Organization] are catching and testing pigs, birds and other animals in the hope of learning whether animals are harboring a reservoir of the new virus that could ignite another outbreak."
listings at Google (KEYWORDS: PIGS, SARS)
after completely disappearing!
THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IS
LOOKING FOR PIGS IN CHINA TO TEST
FOR THE SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS
Accoding to an article by Rob Stein in the Contra Costa Times, "In southern China, teams [from the World Health Organization] are catching and testing pigs, birds and other animals in the hope of learning whether animals are harboring a reservoir of the new virus that could ignite another outbreak."
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Please tell your friends about this site. It used to be in the top listings at Google (KEYWORDS: PIGS, SARS) but now it has completely disappeared from Google and we don't know why.
CAN PETS TRANSMIT THE
SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS?
Silence=Death
Why is the CDC and the World Health Organization not speaking up about the issue of pet transmission of SARS? Can cats and dogs transmit the SARS-associated coronavirus or not? Currrently in China, cat and dogs are undergoing SARS executions based on the assumption that they can.
The journalism on the story is muddled. Some stories suggest that the police are behind the move and that it is based on seeing dogs develop SARS. Other stories treat it like it is an irrational action based on panic.
Surely research to settle this could have been done a few weeks ago. If it turns out that cats and dogs can't transmit the disease, then there should be a campaign to stop the killing of pets in China. If they can transmit the disease, that suggests SARS is going to be a far bigger problem than any human quarantine can handle. It would be wise to get an honest answer about this sooner rather than later.
And while they're at it, we hope the CDC and WHO will figure out if pigs can transmit the SARS-associated coronavirus. If the pork industry will let them.
CAN PETS TRANSMIT THE
SARS-ASSOCIATED CORONAVIRUS?
Silence=Death
Why is the CDC and the World Health Organization not speaking up about the issue of pet transmission of SARS? Can cats and dogs transmit the SARS-associated coronavirus or not? Currrently in China, cat and dogs are undergoing SARS executions based on the assumption that they can.
The journalism on the story is muddled. Some stories suggest that the police are behind the move and that it is based on seeing dogs develop SARS. Other stories treat it like it is an irrational action based on panic.
Surely research to settle this could have been done a few weeks ago. If it turns out that cats and dogs can't transmit the disease, then there should be a campaign to stop the killing of pets in China. If they can transmit the disease, that suggests SARS is going to be a far bigger problem than any human quarantine can handle. It would be wise to get an honest answer about this sooner rather than later.
And while they're at it, we hope the CDC and WHO will figure out if pigs can transmit the SARS-associated coronavirus. If the pork industry will let them.
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
Please tell your friends about this site. It used to be in the top listings at Google (KEYWORDS: PIGS, SARS) but now it has completely disappeared from Google and we don't know why.
PIG SLAUGHTERING IS HALTED IN
SEVERAL OF CHINA'S PROVINCES
COULD CUT CHINESE PORK
PRODUCTION IN HALF
By Charles Ortleb
Channelnewsasia.com has reported that "People's Food Holdings will temporarily halt pig slaughtering at locations in several provinces of China and delay the start of a new plant due to concerns over the SARS outbreak."
According to the report, the plants that were closed accounted for half of all the pork sales by People's Food Holdings last year.
The report also notes that the company "will also stop the purchase of live pigs from suppliers in Hunan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and Henan Province."
Henan Province is one of he places where a SARS-like epidemic called PRRS (and various other bizarre and complicated names) has affected pigs for many years. Pigs with PRRS often develop coronavirus infections but it has yet to be established if the SARS-associated coronavirus is one of them. Japanese researchers have performed research that indicates that coronaviruses pass back and forth easily between people and pigs.
Click here for a database on SARS and pigs.
Charles Ortleb is the author of The Closing Argument and the co-author of The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Follies.
PIG SLAUGHTERING IS HALTED IN
SEVERAL OF CHINA'S PROVINCES
COULD CUT CHINESE PORK
PRODUCTION IN HALF
By Charles Ortleb
Channelnewsasia.com has reported that "People's Food Holdings will temporarily halt pig slaughtering at locations in several provinces of China and delay the start of a new plant due to concerns over the SARS outbreak."
According to the report, the plants that were closed accounted for half of all the pork sales by People's Food Holdings last year.
The report also notes that the company "will also stop the purchase of live pigs from suppliers in Hunan, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and Henan Province."
Henan Province is one of he places where a SARS-like epidemic called PRRS (and various other bizarre and complicated names) has affected pigs for many years. Pigs with PRRS often develop coronavirus infections but it has yet to be established if the SARS-associated coronavirus is one of them. Japanese researchers have performed research that indicates that coronaviruses pass back and forth easily between people and pigs.
Click here for a database on SARS and pigs.
Charles Ortleb is the author of The Closing Argument and the co-author of The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Follies.
Monday, May 05, 2003
OHIO RESEARCHER WORKING WITH THE CDC
MAY ATTEMPT TO CREATE A PIG MODEL
FOR SARS
WILL THIS WORK SHOW WHETHER PIGS
CAN BE CARRIERS OF SARS?
By Charles Ortleb
Is the Centers For Disease Control ready to take a possible link between pigs and SARS seriously? The organization has brought a scientist to their SARS research team who might have the expertise to help indirectly answer the politically-charged (and highly emotional) question of pig-to-human and human-to pig transmission of SARS. There is at least one answer to this question that the pork industry and the scientists it often funds (in one way or another) don't want to hear.
In the Ohio State University's Ohioline, Mauricio Espinoza reports that "Ohio State University researcher Linda Saif has joined a group of scientists led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in an effort to characterize the coronavirus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and pave the way to the development of an effective vaccine."
According to Espinoza, "with 30 years of experience as a coronavirologist, Saif was asked to join a select group of physicians and virus experts from CDC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other institutions. The team, which meets two times a week by teleconference to discuss and make recommendations on the acute respiratory syndrome, is at the forefront of SARS control in the United States."
Saif has had extensive experience with animal coronaviruses. Espinoza reports that Saif told him "'We have done many studies to see if this respiratory variant of TGEV (porcine respiratory coronavirus) can be developed as a possible vaccine to prevent TGEV . . .In the process, we have learned a lot about the types of immune responses that the respiratory coronavirus can induce in pigs. And we are thinking that pigs might have potential to be utilized in the future as an animal model for SARS coronavirus in humans.'"
When I spoke with Saif, she bristled at the idea that pigs might be carriers of SARS. When I brought up the Japanese study that suggested that coronaviruses pass easily back and forth between people and pigs, she discounted the study because it was based on antibodies. She suggested that pig coronaviruses cross react with human coronaviuses. When I asked if anyone had tried to isolate actual human coronaviruses from pigs to settle this matter, she couldn't point to any studies. So I don't understand how she knows with rather haughty certainty that human coronaviruses don't infect pigs.
If Saif does succeed in giving pigs SARS by infecting them with the SARS coronavirus, she insists it won't be proof that pigs can be carriers of the SARS coronavirus because it will be done under experimental as opposed to field conditions. But it will certainly make reasonable people consider the possibility that pigs could become carriers--if they aren't already in China.
While we assume that Dr. Saif is not working for the pork industry, with her renowned expertise, she seems to bring her own ideology on the issues of coronaviruses to SARS research. If Saif is wrong about coronavirus transmission between pigs and people, her contribution to SARS research could have deadly consequences. We hope that she will make it clear to SARS researchers that her ideas on porcine coronaviruses may have their critics in her own field.
From the reactions of pig researchers (many--unlike Saif--with Pork Industry connections) to the idea of a pig link to SARS, I've detected a fairly clear game plan regarding research into pigs and SARS. It's okay to pursue the possibility that research into porcine coronaviruses will help us understand how the SARS coronavirus is harming people, but it is not permissible to aggressively research the possibility that pigs are the source of SARS. Most of the people who have the expertise to answer that question seem to be conspicuously absent from action.
I began writing about the possible connection between SARS and pigs several weeks ago. I keep waiting for some development that will allow me to drop this story. Hasn't happened yet.
Click here for a database on SARS and pigs.
Charles Ortleb is the author of The Closing Argument and the co-author of The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Follies.
MAY ATTEMPT TO CREATE A PIG MODEL
FOR SARS
WILL THIS WORK SHOW WHETHER PIGS
CAN BE CARRIERS OF SARS?
By Charles Ortleb
Is the Centers For Disease Control ready to take a possible link between pigs and SARS seriously? The organization has brought a scientist to their SARS research team who might have the expertise to help indirectly answer the politically-charged (and highly emotional) question of pig-to-human and human-to pig transmission of SARS. There is at least one answer to this question that the pork industry and the scientists it often funds (in one way or another) don't want to hear.
In the Ohio State University's Ohioline, Mauricio Espinoza reports that "Ohio State University researcher Linda Saif has joined a group of scientists led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in an effort to characterize the coronavirus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and pave the way to the development of an effective vaccine."
According to Espinoza, "with 30 years of experience as a coronavirologist, Saif was asked to join a select group of physicians and virus experts from CDC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other institutions. The team, which meets two times a week by teleconference to discuss and make recommendations on the acute respiratory syndrome, is at the forefront of SARS control in the United States."
Saif has had extensive experience with animal coronaviruses. Espinoza reports that Saif told him "'We have done many studies to see if this respiratory variant of TGEV (porcine respiratory coronavirus) can be developed as a possible vaccine to prevent TGEV . . .In the process, we have learned a lot about the types of immune responses that the respiratory coronavirus can induce in pigs. And we are thinking that pigs might have potential to be utilized in the future as an animal model for SARS coronavirus in humans.'"
When I spoke with Saif, she bristled at the idea that pigs might be carriers of SARS. When I brought up the Japanese study that suggested that coronaviruses pass easily back and forth between people and pigs, she discounted the study because it was based on antibodies. She suggested that pig coronaviruses cross react with human coronaviuses. When I asked if anyone had tried to isolate actual human coronaviruses from pigs to settle this matter, she couldn't point to any studies. So I don't understand how she knows with rather haughty certainty that human coronaviruses don't infect pigs.
If Saif does succeed in giving pigs SARS by infecting them with the SARS coronavirus, she insists it won't be proof that pigs can be carriers of the SARS coronavirus because it will be done under experimental as opposed to field conditions. But it will certainly make reasonable people consider the possibility that pigs could become carriers--if they aren't already in China.
While we assume that Dr. Saif is not working for the pork industry, with her renowned expertise, she seems to bring her own ideology on the issues of coronaviruses to SARS research. If Saif is wrong about coronavirus transmission between pigs and people, her contribution to SARS research could have deadly consequences. We hope that she will make it clear to SARS researchers that her ideas on porcine coronaviruses may have their critics in her own field.
From the reactions of pig researchers (many--unlike Saif--with Pork Industry connections) to the idea of a pig link to SARS, I've detected a fairly clear game plan regarding research into pigs and SARS. It's okay to pursue the possibility that research into porcine coronaviruses will help us understand how the SARS coronavirus is harming people, but it is not permissible to aggressively research the possibility that pigs are the source of SARS. Most of the people who have the expertise to answer that question seem to be conspicuously absent from action.
I began writing about the possible connection between SARS and pigs several weeks ago. I keep waiting for some development that will allow me to drop this story. Hasn't happened yet.
Click here for a database on SARS and pigs.
Charles Ortleb is the author of The Closing Argument and the co-author of The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Follies.
