By David Fleet
Editor
Davisburg — Chubby and Doughnut paid off for Mea Collins.
The 15-year-old Brandon High School sophomore recently showed the prime swine at the Oakland County 4-H Fair with Doughnut placing fourth in Showmanship. Both pigs were auctioned off a the Large Animal Auction.
Collin’s pigs were just two of about 80 entered by area youth that competed July 7-16 at Springfield Oaks County Park in Davisburg an event organized and managed by the Oakland County 4-H Fair Association.
Yet before that last squealer headed to market, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Department of Health and Human Services notified Oakland County Health Division that several pigs present at the Fair tested positive for influenza A virus, the causative agent of swine influenza.
The pigs began displaying symptoms on July 14. Jayson Rumball, Collin’s father, said a handful of pigs had a fever.
“Mia’s pigs were negative,” he said. There was no real danger to the pork products. They were just very cautious. The meat was not effected.”
The swine barn closed to the public that evening. No human cases of swine flu have been reported in Michigan this year. The Health Division is working with state partners and fair management to contact trace and monitor exhibitors and fair staff  who were exposed. In the meantime, out of an abundance of caution, the county is notifying the public who may have visited the swine barn.
Swine influenza (flu) is a respiratory disease in pigs caused by type A influenza viruses. Swine flu viruses don’t usually infect humans, but human infections have been reported. People cannot get swine influenza from eating properly prepared pork or handling pork products – only from contact with an ill pig.
Symptoms of swine flu in people are like seasonal flu and may include fever, cough, runny nose, and sometimes body aches, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Symptoms usually appear within three days of exposure but can occur for up to 10 days. On rare occasions, swine flu in humans can lead to severe illness such as pneumonia or death.
Additional subtyping, including whole genome sequencing, will be performed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa.