An Iowa State University researcher has developed a vaccine that’s being used to prevent the spread of the H-1-N-1 virus in hogs. Animal Science professor Hank Harris has sent 20,000 doses to an Indiana farmer whose pigs had already contracted the disease. Harris says most of the calls for the vaccine come from veterinarians in the midwest that want to keep pigs from getting the virus.
He says flu vaccines are fairly common in pigs and many have been requesting that his strain be added to their armament of flu vaccines they’re already using. Harris says they aren’t sure how often pigs might pick up the H1N1 as there have only been the report in Indiana and at the Minnesota State Fair.
“And other than that we’re unsure because there hasn’t been any reports,” he says. Harris says the Indiana pigs appear to have picked up the H1N1 virus from their human handlers.