Maryland

Five People Sick After Contact With Pigs at Anne Arundel and Frederick County Fairs

Five Maryland residents are sick after coming into close contact with pigs at the Anne Arundel County Fair and the Great Frederick Fair, health department officials said.

Health officials say they "presumptively identified" a variant of influenza A in the residents.

Health officials did not say how the sick people came into contact with the pigs, but said that none of the people are showing symptoms of serious illness and no one has been hospitalized.

Ninety-five pigs are still in isolation on the Great Frederick Fair grounds after at least 11 sick pigs were confirmed to have the H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus. The pig barn was closed Sunday after state inspectors found the infected pigs.

A child was showing symptoms of the flu after attending that fair, News4 previously reported.

Some pigs from the fair were brought back to three different Frederick County farms, but those farms have shut down, officials said. Samples from those farms were sent for testing.

Officials have lifted the quarantined on pigs at the Charles County fair after several pigs were diagnosed with the flu and seven people got sick.

The Secretary of Agriculture cancelled all swine exhibits at Maryland's last fair of the season, The Calvert County Fair, "out of an abundance of caution," health department officials said.

Symptoms can include fever, cough and sore throat.

The virus is not often transmitted between humans, nor does it affect the safety of properly cooked pork, health officials said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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