캐나다 서부의 서스캐체원(Saskatchewan)주(province)의 서스카툰(SASKATOON, 아래 지도 참조)에서 새로운 유형의 돼지독감 바이러스가 발견되었다는 소식입니다.

돼지농장에서 일하는 노동자들이 감염되었는데… 2명은 회복단계에 있으며 1명은 감염여부를 조사하고 있다고 합니다.

캐나다 보건당국(Dr. Frank Plummer)과 수의당국(Dr. Greg Douglas) 책임자들에 따르면… 새로운 바이러스는 인간의 계절성 H1N1 바이러스와 돼지의 H3N2 바이러스가 결합한 유전적 특징을 갖고 있는 것으로 알려졌으며, 신종플루와는 관련성이 없다고 강조했습니다.(정부당국에서 이렇게 강한 어조로 강조할 때 일단은 의심을 해보는 것이 과학적 태도가 아닐까요?)

아울러 이들은 캐나다 돼지고기는 안전하다는 점을 지나치게 강조하고 있습니다. 많은 국가들에서 돼지독감 대유행과 관련하여 캐나다산 돼지고기의 수입을 금지하고 있는 상황을 고려한 정치적인 발언이라고 할 수 있겠습니다. 물론 ‘건전한 과학’이라는 레토릭으로 포장된 ‘정치경제학적인 발언’이겠지요.

Pandemic (6단계 격상 경보)를 공식 발령하면서도 항공기 운행, 무역, 인적교류, 물적 교류는 중단되어서는 안된다고 주장하는 WHO와 돼지농장에서 일하는 노동자들이 인간의 계절성 독감과 돼지독감 바이러스가 결합된 돌연변이 바이러스에 감염되었는데도 돼지는 아무런 상관이 없다고 주장하는 캐나다의 보건/수의당국의 주장은 논리적으로 충돌되는 모순된 내용으로 가득차 있다고 생각합니다. 혹시 WHO/WTO, 캐나다 정부와 미국 정부는 모든 창을 막아내는 방패와 모든 방패를 모두 뚫어버리는 창을 다 가졌다고 생각하고 있는 것은 아닌지 모르겠습니다.

더 자세한 내용은 아래 로이터통신의 기사를 참고하시길 바랍니다.




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Canadian Farm Workers Infected With New Flu Strain

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan —  Two farm workers in Western Canada have become infected with a new flu virus, health officials said on Tuesday, stressing the strain was not related to the H1N1 pandemic.

The two workers, both employees at a hog barn operation in the province of Saskatchewan, have fully recovered. A third case is under investigation.

The new virus contains genes from a seasonal human H1N1 flu strain and a flu virus common in the swine population called triple reassortant H3N2, said Dr. Greg Douglas, Saskatchewan’s chief veterinary officer.

The virus is not connected to the H1N1 strain, sometimes referred to as swine flu, that has killed more than 400 people worldwide. That strain is believed to have begun in Mexico and has been labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

There are no signs of increased illness in the hog herd, Douglas added.

“This is a human health issue,” he said. “Saskatchewan pork continues to be safe … This is not a food safety issue at all.”

Concern about the issue of pigs becoming infected with the H1N1 flu has been heightened in Canada since a herd in Alberta became infected in April. A human worker who had visited Mexico was initially suspected as the source but was later ruled out.

The Saskatchewan farm is not under quarantine, but the owner has agreed not to move the pigs, said Dr. Frank Plummer, chief science adviser for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The virus would likely not have been detected at all if not for heightened influenza testing as a result of the pandemic, Plummer said.

“Any time there’s a new influenza A strain, we have to be concerned about it, but these events occur and are almost always dead ends,” he said.

All workers on the hog farm are being vaccinated. Douglas said he expects the hogs will eventually go to slaughter as they normally would.

The workers have been in Saskatchewan for about one year and had not recently traveled, said Dr. Moira McKinnon, Saskatchewan’s chief medical officer.

Plummer said the new virus was likely transmitted from the pigs to the workers, but said the source of transmission of the pandemic H1N1 virus on the Alberta hog farm, which was quarantined in April, was probably human.

More than a dozen countries have banned Canadian hogs or pork since the quarantine.

Bob Harding, executive director of the Canadian Swine Health Board, said there is concern that markets could misinterpret the new virus’s connection to swine.

“This is a poorly understood science. It’s changing as we speak, but it’s not a pig thing,” Harding said.