Oh Great, Swine Flu Is Back!

The CDC has been tracking a new strain of pig flu linked to state and county fairs. Concerned epidemiologists say this new strain might share a gene with the 2009 pandemic flu strain, which allows it to pass easily from pigs to humans. Out of 29 recorded human cases in the past year (most of which are children), there were 12 just this week—and 10 of those patients attended the Butler County Fair in southwest Ohio. The CDC’s advice? Quit being all cavalier around pigs, y’all. Pigs are not your bros.

Now, it’s probably NBD, says the CDC:

It hasn’t been spreading easily from person to person—which is the greater concern. It also has not been unusually dangerous. All of the recent cases were mild, as were most of the earlier illnesses. But even regular flu can be a serious illness, so people should be careful if they’re going be around pigs, said Dr. Joseph Bresee, the CDC’s chief of influenza epidemiology.

Are you listening, people? Be careful around pigs!!! I know that nothing says summertime like eating hot funnel cake off a prize sow’s back, but for the love of god, STOP:

Fairgoers are advised to wash their hands and avoid taking food and drinks into livestock barns.

Weird—I’ve always felt that “keep your food out of the livestock barn” was implicit in the term “LIVESTOCK BARN.” But apparently not. So quit huffing hog fumes, everyone, and let’s all keep living.