Can you get the Swine Flu from a pig?

Answer 1

Yes, certain strains of Swine Flu can go from pig to pig, human to human, and pig to human or human to pig. If it is the right type of flu that has been mutated in the pigs, then it can be passed that way. The US CDC and World Health Organization are giving those in close proximity to pigs advice to be very careful when with the swine and to practice good hand washing techniques after touching the swine or their habitat.

Answer 2

Yes, pigs do die of respiratory problems from swine flu, but it is not typical. It usually spreads rapidly through the herd and causes a lot of coughing and sneezing and obvious illness but does not kill that often.
Historically, swine flu has caused serious illness among pigs but low death rates, although death is possible.

Answer 3

Yes, the type of swine flu that pigs get (H1N1) can spread quickly through a group of pigs and there can be loss of stock from the disease. With this type of virus they have similar flu symptoms to the human symptoms of sneezes, coughs, fever, etc. This type of swine flu is passed pig to pig and is different from the 2009 Swine flu: Influenza A, Novel H1N1 that is currently being spread human to human.

Answer 4

If a pig has a case of the swine flu, then the virus has "invaded" its body and the virus is inside some of the cells of the pig's body until the pig's immune system stops it from continuing to reproduce and then it withers away and is carried off by the host's blood cells to move it out of the body.

A virus is not really something that is "alive", it is just cells that are programmed to break in to the cells of a host animal or plant and combine the genetic material it holds inside with that of the host cell which makes the cell work to produce more virus cells.

You can still eat pork since the flu virus is killed by 167-212°F (75-100°C) temperatures which are easily achieved by cooking as usual.

Answer 5

Yes, somewhat, like it does people. When pigs get the H1N1 swine flu virus that originally infected pigs (a different one than the pandemic swine flu), they get similar symptoms to those that people get when they have the flu. They sneeze and cough, they are tired and look sick. They probably have aches and pains just like we do when we get the flu, too. They also die from the flu from the fever, dehydration, and pneumonia that sometimes are secondary problems with the flu.