| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Mystery pig disease: Blue Ear Disease |
| 2007-05-10 |
| A mysterious illness that has swept through pig populations in southern China and killing at least 300 of the animals has been identified as a strain of "blue ear disease," state media said Wednesday. The official Xinhua News Agency said that an effective vaccine has already been developed and authorities soon will start to administer it to pigs in Guangdong province. That was fast! Could the Center for Disease Control accomplish such a thing so quickly? The disease spread to China in the mid-1990s, and the recent outbreak was a caused by a new mutation, it said. Blue ear disease is also known as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome or PRRS, and was first identified in the United States in 1987, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. The pigs in Guangdong showed symptoms typical of the disease, including loss of appetite, fever and bleeding, Xinhua said. The affected pigs were all raised by individual households instead of large-scale farms and were not for export, it said. Hong Kong media said Monday that 1,300 pigs were believed to have been infected. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #17 Just so, TW. This story is more on the nose than those pigs. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2007-05-10 20:23 |
| #16 But identify the virus, develop a vaccine, and produce enough to innoculate all the pigs in the affected region, FOTSGreg? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-05-10 16:23 |
| #15 The CDC could indeed identify a known virus or disease within at most a few days. Modern DNA sequencing and analysis gear, particularly the 454 sequencers from Life Sciences, can sequence and analyze samples within 24 hours. Preparing the sample takes longer than it does to sequence the sample. Comparing the sequenced sample to a bank of known diseases (that have already been sequenced) is childs' play. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-05-10 16:11 |
| #14 I was responding to JosephMendiola's post, Rupert Greamp9237. He said in Guam they give antibiotics to pigs with blue ear disease. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-05-10 14:02 |
| #13 Can we now expect some pandemic BLUE TURBAN DISEASE, please ? |
| Posted by: treiteling hopscotch 23 2007-05-10 12:39 |
| #12 TW. I saw no mention of antibiotics. The vaccine that is mentioned will inoculate any non-infected pigs but the ones already infected will either develop their own immunity or die depending on the severity of infection. |
| Posted by: Rupert Greamp9237 2007-05-10 12:12 |
| #11 Weirdly, though, the blue ears are readily made into silk purses. So they've got that going for them. Which is nice. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-05-10 11:39 |
| #10 Good catch TW. The commies are full of shit, as usual. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-05-10 09:54 |
| #9 Joe M, Scourge of the Jutes - I like it! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-05-10 07:59 |
| #8 If blue ear disease is a virus, how does giving antibiotics help, other than killing off any secondary infections like pneumonia? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-05-10 07:36 |
| #7 CHINA > VIETNAM BIRD FLU A THREAT TO CHINA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-05-10 03:06 |
| #6 No, she's got UMPD. (Utterly Mad Porcine Disease). |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-05-10 01:48 |
| #5 Blue ear disease is also known as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome or PRRS, and was first identified in the United States in 1987, according to the World Organization for Animal Health. Anyone check Rosie's ears lately? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-10 01:28 |
| #4 hasn't stopped a barbecue or stew yet. betcha JOE has the righteous BBQ rub... hummm.. divining olde Guam skool recipe... |
| Posted by: RD 2007-05-10 01:11 |
| #3 Hi, Joe! |
| Posted by: Fred 2007-05-10 00:25 |
| #2 Sorry, twas me. |
| Posted by: JOsephMendiola 2007-05-10 00:16 |
| #1 Blue ear is to porkers what bird flu is to chickens/poultry, although I've never seen a bleeder pig on any Guam ranchos, or even the feew stateside farms I've seen. Blue-eared pigs are typically given anti-biotics and reviewed by Fed-Guam Agriculture or animal Perts before any slaughter takes place - hasn't stopped a barbecue or stew yet. Methinks the key words in this article is "LARGE-SCALE FARMS" = PCSpeak for STATE-OWNED/SUBSIDIZED, COMMIE-STYLE? COLLECTIVES??? |
| Posted by: Threng Scourge of the Jutes3969 2007-05-10 00:15 |