Swine Flu Pig | Is It Safe to Eat Pork During a Swine Flu Outbreak?

The best defense against any outbreak or health concern is to get accurately informed especially of current developments to determine your moves to protect your life and your family.  For swine flu, it must be remembered that swine flu virus is not a food-borne pathogen and there is no risk of getting infected with the virus upon eating of pork even if it is infected with swine flu because swine flu virus gets killed at 160⁰F temperature as it does to other viruses and bacteria.  Pork has to be handled properly and cleaned well before cooking though, not just for swine flu but for standard safety measures.  Swine flu is transmitted through close interaction with humans and touching things that an infected person has coughed or sneezed at.

Swine Flu Outbreak

Swine flu started spreading when the Influenza A virus infecting pigs or porcine species was transmitted to human beings thru exposure or close contact with pigs especially those who maintain farms and barns or even those who just visit country fairs with infected pigs on it.  Since one of the most  common indicators of swine flu is fever, people who got infected with swine assumed that what they were having was a simple case of influenza, which can be cured with lots of fluids and bed rest until death incidences were reported due to this supposed ordinary flu was reported.

The first case of swine flu was detected in a town in the Mexican Gulf Coast. And because the H1N1 virus is not capable of reproducing itself, it needs human-to-human transmission. And since human beings by nature interact with one another, the spread of the virus became inevitable unless proper preventive measures are practiced.

Swine Flu Pork

The general idea on the safety of pork eating in all parts of the world can be applied based on the official statement of Centers for Health Control (CDC) that eating pork and pork products even if the pig was infected is still safe because technically, the swine flu virus dies in the process of cooking at internal temperature of 160⁰F so there is no reason to be scared of eating pork.  Several pork-supplying countries got alarmed due to the dramatic decrease of pork and pork product consumption thereby affecting their sales and profit.

Swine flu can be eluded not by abstaining from eating pork but by forgetting about myths and misconceptions and by practicing correct precautionary measures such as constantly washing the hands with antimicrobial soap or using hand sanitizers and alcohol when soap and water is unavailable.  Drinking plenty of liquids would also be a big help and of course, limiting yourself from close interaction with people and crowded places would also help a lot in protecting yourself against swine flu infection.

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