Swine to Human disease?

Question

My husband works at a hog farm where they have had an outbreak of PRRS. From what I understand, this lowers the pigs immunity and they think they also have gotten the swine flu. I am wondering what swine diseases are humans able to catch. Can humans pick up flu from the pigs? What about streptococcal meningitis? Do we have anything to worry about? This farm is very strict on bio-security. I told him to ask the vet but he has lost faith in the man since the vet not doing his job is what allowed to PRRS to slip through from isolation to begin with. Any answers will be appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

Let me say first that your husband should see a regular about these.  He has good reason not to trust the vet's answers.  There is a legitimate concern here about some of these diseases.  Swine Flu can be transferred to humans and back to the swine as well. The PRRS virus can be found in the nasal passages and lungs of people working around swine with PRRS. Also wearing a mask does not help as apparently the virus comes right on through. As far as I know there have been no cases of PRRS in humans, but I wouldn't like that virus living inside me waiting to be the first to succumb to it.  There are others ways that I would rather be  remembered for.  Read up on these diseases that you are concerned about, and make your husband visit a doctor, if just to talk to him.

Answer 2

I can't top Brandon's answer, though I do feel for your hubby.

A farrowing barn I used to work at had a strain of PRRS go through.  Snaring sows for the blood tests, the aborts, weak pigs at birth, all the extra shots and things, what a nightmare!  I always wore a good mask, disposable gloves, still washed my hands until they were so chapped, and showered.  We were bio-secure too, but they think it came in with a batch of gilts although they were supposed to go through an isolation period.  All I got was the occasional cold, and I credit the poor air quality in the winter for that.  

Hope things work out for your hubby at work, hope they don't have to de-pop.

Answer 3

I worked for a large commercial hog farm  (3rd largest in the US) for many years.  PRRS is the worst disease ever, and at the farm that I worked for, we had 32 different strands of the disease.  We went so far as to completely de-populate our whole sow farm at this area (about 4,000 sows), powerwashed these barns to where you could literally l**k the floors, extreme disinfecting of every nook and crany,  formaldahide bombed them, and let the barns sit for 1 month empty before we restocked the farm with PRRS-free gilts out of Canada.  We took every precaution possible bio-security wise.  Guess what, about 4 months later, PRRS was back.  The company decided to de-pop one more time.  Again, the same thing happened.  I have heard everything from PRRS being passed around from nose to nose contact, air born, fecal, and even being carried from flies.  Once you have the disease, plan on never getting rid of it!  It is pure h**l with all of the vaccinating, blood testing, loss in production, and so on.  I feel for every hog farm that has to deal with this horrible disease.

I, have never caught any diseases from working with pigs.  I was required to get a flu shot every year because pigs can catch the flu from us.  Other than that, I am not aware of health problems and diseases being passed to humans.  As long as you practice good hygene, shouldn't have to many problems.

Answer 4

Zoonosis is the word you are looking for when any infectious disease is transmitted from one spieces to another (vectoring).

A partial list of agents that can carry infectious organisms that may be zoonotic includes:

    * Bats

    * Birds

    * Cats

    * Cattle

    * Chimpanzees

    * Dogs

    * Geese

    * Goats

    * Horses

    * Humans

    * Monkeys

    * Mosquitos

    * Fleas

    * Opossums

    * Pigs

    * Rabbits and hares

    * Raccoons

    * Rats

    * Rodents

    * Snails

    * Sloths

    * Fish

    * Sheep

[edit] List of infective agents

Zoonoses can be listed according to the infective agent:

    * Parasites which includes protozoa, helminths (cestodes and trematodes)

    * Bacteria

    * Viruses

    * Fungi

    * Prions

[edit] Partial list of important zoonoses

    * Anthrax

    * Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

    * Bolivian hemorrhagic fever

    * Brucellosis

    * Borrelia

    * Borna virus infection

    * Bovine tubercolosis

    * Bubonic plague

    * Campylobacteriosis

    * Chagas disease

    * Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) a Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) from Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "Mad cow disease"

    * Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever

    * Cutaneous larva migrans

    * Dengue Fever

    * Ebola fever

    * Echinococcosis

    * Hantavirus

    * Hendra virus

    * Henipavirus

    * Korean hemorrhagic fever

    * Lábrea fever

    * Lassa fever

    * Leishmaniasis

    * Leptospirosis

    * Listeriosis

    * Malaria

    * Marburg virus infection

    * Monkey B virus

    * Nipah virus

    * Ocular larva migrans

    * Ornithosis (psitacosis)

    * Oropouche fever

    * Q-Fever

    * Psittacosis, also called "parrot fever"

    * Rabies

    * Rift Valley fever

    * Ringworms (Tinea canis, mainly)

    * Salmonellosis

    * Sodoku

    * Toxoplasmosis

    * Trichinosis

    * Typhus and other Rickettsial diseases

    * Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever

    * Visceral larva migrans

    * Yellow fever

Other zoonoses might be

    * Glanders

    * SARS (possibly; civet cats may spread the disease, or may catch the disease from humans.)

This list is by no means complete. The influenza virus is an interesting example: It continually recombines genes between strains found in humans, swine and avians, producing new strains with changed characteristics, and occasionally, as in 1918, killing millions worldwide.

This just scratches the surface. This will get you well underway to other leads as this is only an excerpt.

As for the vet, this episode of zooerastia with the family dog may have put more than his 401K in jepardy!  If he stuck to zoopery there would only be a great video for him to watch once he mastered the subjunctive.

Answer 5

I am a microbiologist and worked with PRRS in a research setting.  It has thus far been determined not to be zoonotic.  However, swine infected with PRRS do tend to have lowered immunity, but do not be alarmed as this is the case even for you when you're sick and generally leads to very few secondary infections.  As long as your husband is not immunocompromised (ie. HIV infected, cancer patient, or has any autoimmune disease) you should have very little to worry about along the lines of him contracting an infection from the swine.  Have a good week!

Answer 6

Most biosecure facilities are engineered to keep diseases out and less so to prevent infection to humans.

Most zoonotic diseases from swine are due to ingestion of fecal matter or by physical contact and are not airborne. Most of these diseases are also very rare in civilised countries.

Influenza can be carried by pigs, however the species of streptococcus that causes meningitis is carried by most humans and not by pigs.

Below I have listed some zoonotic diseases transmitted by pigs merely as a guide for you.  Any person who works with animals is at risk of contracting zoonotic diseases endemic within your country.  As long as he takes the necessary precautions when working with the pigs he should have nothing to worry about.  Wearing overalls at the farm, washing his shoes after working in the pens, keeping hands clean and having a shower after work are good ways to prevent any infections.

Diseases acquired from Pigs

    *      Anthrax

    *      Ascaris suum

    *      Botulism

    *      Brucella suis

    *      Cryptosporidiosis

    *      Entamoeba polecki

    *      Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae

    *      Flavobacterium group IIb-like bacteria

    *      Influenza

    *      Leptospirosis

    *      Pasteurella aerogenes

    *      Pasteruella multocida

    *      Pigbel

    *      Rabies

    *      Salmonella cholerae-suis

    *      Salmonellosis

    *      Sarcosporidiosis

    *      Scabies

    *      Streptococcus dysgalactiae (group L)

    *      Streptococcus milleri

    *      Streptococcus suis type2 (group R)

    *      Swine vesicular disease

    *      Taenia solium

    *      Trichinella spiralis

    *      Yersinia enterocolitica

    *      Yersinia pseudotuberculosis