HONG KONG, Nov. 5, 2009 (Kyodo News International) -- Two pig samples taken from a slaughter house in northern Hong Kong last month tested positive for the new influenza virus, the first time the H1N1 virus was found in live pigs in Hong Kong, but the risk of contracting the virus through eating pork is low, the health chief said Thursday.
The Food and Health Secretary York Chow said no gene re-assortment has occurred and the virus remains genetically similar to the H1N1 virus previously found in humans.
''The chances for gene re-assortment would be bigger only if a virus was regularly found in an animal and mixed with other viruses,'' Chow told reporters. ''From what we know, the chance for a mutation is similar to that during normal flu seasons.''
He said the infected pigs could have been slaughtered and consumed, but the risk of contracting the virus via eating pork is low if thoroughly cooked.
Although many people were infected with the new flu and developed antibodies against it during the prolonged summer flu season that lasted into October, Chow said they are ''prepared for the worst.''
Chow also announced Hong Kong has secured a deal with French pharmaceutical maker Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY) on three million doses of vaccine, which will begin arriving next month in batches.
Healthcare workers, chronic patients, pregnant women, children between 6 months and 6 years, people at or above 65 and workers at pig farms and slaughter houses can get the shot, costing about US$10 each, for free.
''From experience gathered in the past few weeks, we believe the vaccines are effective and side effects are minor, similar to that of normal flu vaccines,'' Thomas Tsang, head of the Center for Health Protection said. ''The new flu vaccine is considered safe.''
Tsang said so far Hong Kong has some 31,000 laboratory confirmed cases, but the number of actual infections could be in the range of ''several hundred thousands.''
As of Wednesday, 39 fatal cases have been reported locally, while the global death toll has reached 5,712, according to the World Health Organization.
