Outbreaks of two serious viruses during
the fall fair season have spurred officials to try to protect hogs,
horses and fair-goers from “swine flu” and Eastern
Equine Encephalitis.

People can’t get swine flu — H1N1 influenza — from pigs, but pigs can get the virus from people through germs spread by sneezing or petting the animals.

“Protecting pigs is secondary to protecting humans, but no one
really wants to see it in the swine herd either,” Assistant Maine State Veterinarian Beth McEvoy said Friday.

That’s not to say that people shouldn’t go to agricultural
fairs. They need only to exercise more care by using
hand-washing stations installed in livestock areas and refraining from
petting the pigs.

“In fact, we have created signs to that effect,” McEvoy said. “We
are posting them at farms and we had them up up at the Skowhegan Fair.”

One sign asks people who are sick or who have been sick in the past seven days not to enter the barn areas. 

Another reads: “Fair-goers are asked to avoid the
fair if they are exhibiting any flu-like symptoms, and especially stay
away from any animal exhibits.”

Fair-goers also asked to practice good hygiene by washing
hands before and after entering livestock areas and before eating.

Many of the animals being
exhibited are vaccinated before leaving their farms to protect them
from illnesses. Afterward, many must undergo 10-day
quarantines before rejoining herds.

On Friday at the Oxford Fair, which ends this weekend, livestock
manager Jackie Young said most people realize they are not going to get
swine flu from pigs. Nonetheless, health and safety precautions are
taken seriously.

“There’s (gel) to clean hands through all the barns,” she said. “There are also areas where petting of livestock is prohibited simply because of the safety factor.”

Young said teachers who came through with their students on
Education Day on Tuesday were diligent about ensuring that
the children obeyed safety and health precautions and used the
hand-cleaning gel.

“I’ve been changing the hand sanitizer bottles every other day, even every day in some cases,” she said.

All county and state fairs in Maine have hand-washing stations in
their livestock areas that are available for public use. In past years,
their purpose has been to protect fair-goers from animal-borne
illnesses such as E.coli.

This year, hand-washing stations are also being used to
protect the hogs and pigs from the H1NI pandemic  circulating
in the human population.

Swine owners say they are not worried about the H1N1threat.

“I’d be more concerned about the threat (if Triple E) to horses,” a Dixfield farmer said.

 Highly fatal in horses

  The equine virus, a potentially fatal brain inflammation also known as Triple E, is carried by mosquitoes. It had killed nearly a dozen horses in central and southern Maine as of Friday, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture.

“There are 11 solidly confirmed cases,” Dr. McEvoy said Friday.

Three more horses that died are suspected of having had the infection, but their owners didn’t test them or submit samples for testing to the Maine Center for Disease Control, McEvoy said.

EEE infection must occur through the bite of an infected mosquito. Horses are considered to be “dead end” hosts for the disease, meaning they are not capable of transmitting the disease to humans or other horses, according to Maine State Veterinarian Don Hoenig.

In horses, Triple E is a highly fatal disease with mortality approaching 100 percent, he said.  

Humans have better odds of surviving the rare illness. However, there is no effective treatment.

Although there is an EEE vaccine for horses, there is no vaccine available for humans, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine CDC.

“Eastern Equine Encephalitis is one of the most severe mosquito-transmitted diseases in the United States, with approximately 33 percent mortality and significant brain damage in most survivors,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.

Care is based on symptoms.

After getting bitten by an infected mosquito, Mills says it usually takes three to 10 days to develop Triple E symptoms.

Severe cases of Triple E infection begin with the sudden onset of headache, high fever, chills and vomiting. The illness may progress to disorientation, seizures and coma.

“Although the risk of contracting the disease from one particular mosquito bite is very small — since any one mosquito is unlikely to be infected — the risk is much more widespread geographically than previously thought,” Mills said.

In recent days and weeks, Triple E has killed horses in York, Cumberland, Kennebec, Waldo and Penobscot counties, she said.

In the majority of those cases, the horses weren’t vaccinated or had incomplete or questionable histories of vaccination, Dr. Hoenig said last week.

People who will be attending fairs or heading out to view fall foliage need to protect themselves from mosquito bites, Mills said.

Maine has 45 mosquito species, but not all mosquitoes can transmit Triple E, she said.

Some feed on birds, some on mammals and some on both birds and mammals, which means the mosquito species of greatest concern for EEE are those that feed on both birds and mammals.

“This risk for contracting EEE virus is highest at dusk to dawn and when temperatures are above 50 degrees — and especially above 60 degrees — since these are the conditions when mosquitoes are most actively biting,” Mills said.

That risk is expected to continue through next year.

“As a result, all Mainers, schools and communities should take action,” Mills said.

People can reduce their risk of being infected with the Triple E virus by using insect repellent, wearing protective clothing and staying indoors while mosquitoes are most active.

Triple E is primarily amplified in a cycle between song birds, which serve as reservoirs, and wetland mosquitoes, especially those in freshwater hardwood/red maple and cedar wetlands, Mills said.

Some of the recently infected horses lived near such wetlands.

“People most at risk from Triple E are people living, working and visiting wetlands or areas identified with EEE,” Mills said. “Persons over age 50 and younger than age 15 seem to be at greatest risk for developing severe disease.”

Cooler weather ahead of other agriculture fairs will lessen the risk of infection, Dr. McEvoy said.

“We’re hopeful it’s been
really cold and some towns have had frost, so if we have a good frost,
the worry there will be gone,” she said. 

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Staff writer Leslie Dixon contributed to this story.