Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) Pigs on a Taitung farm that recently tested positive for influenza A(H1N1) or swine flu might not have contracted the virus from humans as had been earlier speculated, Taitung health authorities said Friday. The results of tests on the farm's six workers show that none were infected, according to Lu Chiao-yang, director-general of the county's Public Health Bureau.
This means that the virus could have been transmitted to the animals by other agents, including birds, Lu said.
Chen Chih-feng, head of the Taitung County Livestock Disease Control Center, said further investigation will be conducted to trace the origin of the virus.
The center conducted the tests on pigs Oct. 27 after being informed that about 160 out of some 3,000 animals raised on the farm in the county's Guanshan area had begun showing symptoms of cough, running nose and diarrhea from about 10 days earlier.
The Centers for Disease Control said Thursday that the test results show that the virus found in the hogs was the same as the new H1N1 strain that affects humans.
As the animals were bred and raised on the farm and had never left the place since they were born, it sparked immediate speculation that the virus could have been passed from an infected person to a pig before spreading throughout the herd.
(By Tyson Lu and Y.F. Low)
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