Food safety experts with the World Health Organization (WHO)
said Sunday they were not surprised that the influenza strain
that has sickened hundreds of humans around the world has been
found in pigs at an Alberta farm. "I must say we expected that
at some point since this virus has swine virus elements that we
would find possibly the virus in swine pigs in the region where
the virus is circulating," said Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO
food safety scientist. He said the WHO learned of the pig
infections Saturday when Canadian health officials announced
that the swine flu virus found in a herd of Alberta pigs appears
to be the same as the one affecting humans. Health officials
said that a farm worker who travelled to Mexico and fell ill
upon his return last month apparently infected the pigs with the
H1N1 influenza virus. About 220 pigs in the herd of 2,200 began
showing signs of the flu on April 24, said Canada's top
veterinary officer, Dr. Brian Evans of the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency. The herd in central