DHEC is working with Clemson University Livestock Poultry Health to help prevent the possible spread of the newly identified H3N2v influenza virus at this year’s S-C State Fair. Dr. Linda Bell, interim state epidemiologist, says, “H3N2v is a new strain of the influenza that is circulating in pigs and has infected a number of people in several states.” So far, there have been no identified cases in South Carolina. The doctor said H3N2v is a variant influenza that results when an influenza virus that normally circulates in swine is detected in humans. Influenza viruses are not unusual in swine and can be directly transmitted from swine to people and from people to swine. Influenza has not been shown to be transmitted by eating properly handled and prepared pork.
