Hard work, late nights, early mornings and several dollars later, kids and parents across the nation load up their trailers and haul their animals to the county fair. The same pride runs from sea to shining sea but feelings swelled in Clinton County Ohio after a case of swine flu caused an entire show barn to be deemed terminal.
Last week, lab officials confirmed H3N2 swine flu in one hog at the Clinton County fair in Ohio. Kayla Alexander has been a 4-H fair advisor for a decade. Alexander tells the Ohio Ag Net 4-Her?s became concerned after hearing misinformation from local metro media.
?Obviously there?s more questions than answers because they are hearing all of the negatives that they can get sick and the concern started flying. Our job was to make sure they were comfortable and that this was just like getting a cold,? Alexander said.
Ohio State Veterinarian Tony Forshey deemed the show terminal and the hog barn off limits.
?It?s all on a case by case basis. (You have to) look at the number of animal?s sick, how hot it is, what are the human risk and public health. All of those factors determined what we were going to do,? Forshey said.
Many county fairs are taking place across Iowa this week.
State Veterinarian Dave Schmitt has advice for both showers and fair goers.
?They certainly need to do proper precautions. Don?t take food into the barns, wash your hands. If there are livestock that are ill, contact the veterinarians or the show veterinarian and report it right away so the animal can be taken care of properly,? Schmidt said.
No human cases of swine flu have been confirmed.
