Ottawa, Ontario -
Government officials here have confirmed that Russia has cut off pork and hog exports from Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia.
Swine flu is the reason that has been given.
The H1N1 virus that began in Mexico has spread around the world, and in Canada passed from a worker who visited Mexico to a herd of about 2,200 pigs in Alberta. That herd is under quarantine, even though the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has said it's a mild form of the virus that is relatively common in pigs. They usually have the sniffles for a week to 10 days and fully recover.
Canada and World Health Organization officials say the virus in pigs poses no health risk to pork consumers.
Russia is one of a number of countries, albeit none of them in North America or Europe, who have banned exports of Canadian hogs and pork since the first cases of H1N1 arose in Canada at the end of April.
Reuters has reported that Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia's federal animal and plant health service, has expanded its ban to all meat from Ontario, not just hogs and pork.
Ontario's health officials say there have been 187 cases of people with H1N1, Alberta 67, British Columbia 100, Nova Scotia 66 and Quebec 47.
As of May 20, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 9,830 lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 in 40 countries, primarily in the U.S. (5,123 cases, including five deaths) and Mexico (3,648 cases, including 72 deaths).
Russia has also banned all meat from Mexico, some countries in the Caribbean and Central America and seven states-Wisconsin, Washington, Illinois, New York, Texas, California and Arizona.
It has banned hogs and raw pork from Michigan and Massachusetts and from the Spanish provinces of Barcelona, Seville and Valencia, and all of Britain.
Dr. Cate Dewey of the University of Guelph says this virus remains in the lungs of infected pigs, and does not get into the bloodstream or meat.
