The Jefferson Rotary Club learned about the potential for a deadly pork disease coming to America.

Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Emergency Management Coordinator for Animal Health Andrew Hennefent talked about the African Swine Flu. He said the disease affects pigs and it is mainly concentrated in Africa, but recently spread to Europe and China. The common hosts of the disease are warthogs and soft ticks, which aren’t found in Iowa. However, those species are in the southern United States. Pigs can also pass the disease to other pigs, but there is no impact to humans. Hennefent said the reason the African Swine Flu spread to China was due to poor biosecurity measures. 

Iowa is the number one pork producer in the U.S. Hennefent said Iowa has more than 7,000 hog production farms and has 25-percent capacity of slaughter houses. There is no vaccine or treatments available for the disease. Hennefent said affected pork is safe for humans to consume. 

If the African Swine Flu made it to Iowa, Hennefent said that it would hopefully be caught by their daily detection procedures. The problem would then be contained, and all hauling of pigs would stop, with the contained area in quarantine mode. The affected pigs would then be eliminated on the farms they are located.