Could bunnies carry the Swine Flu?

[Deleted User]

   As you know or may not know, there is a pandemic in Mexico known as the Swine Flu. So far, there have been a handful of cases is California due to the many Mexicans. I am not trying to be racist as I am Mexican. I do own a bunny and would like to know if my bunny could carry a very dangerous virus and pass it to me or, I could have the virus and pass it to my bunny. Please reply as quickly as you can and if you do not know the answer please give your best theory.

[princessangrypeppers]

Well, I’m no expert, but from what I read, this strain of the swine flu is some sort of combination of the avian flu, the swine flu, and human influenza . As rabbits fit none of those categories, I’d say they there’s no reason to think they’d be at risk.

From Wikipedia (which, no doubt is a weak source, but I was too lazy to find a better one ) :

‘The CDC has confirmed that U.S. cases were found to be made up of genetic elements from four different flu viruses – North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and swine influenza virus typically found in Asia and Europe – “an unusually mongrelised mix of genetic sequences.”‘

So, unless the virus has adapted to use rabbits as a host, they should be safe. (I think….)

[RabbitPam]

I think that our homes with our bunnies tend to be limited in exposure to outside elements, so unless you entertain a lot, your bunny is primarily exposed exclusively to you. If you take some extra precautions that are being recommended, such as frequent hand washing, caution in crowded public places, etc. you probably won’t bring it home or get sick yourself. Just to be safe, you certainly can give your hands, arms and face a quick wash before and after handling your bunny.

[3crazybuns]

I think your bun should be fine, like princess said, its avian, humane, and swine, but also as rabbitpam said everyone needs to be taking extra precautions these days. –Sorta off topic, but it was so said to hear about that 23 month old that died from it! Its a scary thing! Luckily there have been no reported cases in our current area.

[bunnytowne]

it does sound scary.  You know on tv how they say cover your mouth when you cough and they show a person using their hand.  Then you touch doorknobs $ shopping carts etc.  You are still spreading it.

Last nite though I saw the news and showed the person coughing into the elbow  that way you don’t get it on your hands and spread it around.

Funny it took them so long to figure that one out.

IN Mexico they are ordering pigs to be slaughtered to help curb the spread.  Hope it helps.

[Deleted User]

Thanks you guys, that rests my insecurities!

[TARM]

The swine flu isn’t spread by consuming pigs. They’re going to stop calling it swine flu and start calling it H1N1.

[princessangrypeppers]

Actually, the ASPCA just posted a small article about it:

http://www.aspca.org/news/national/05-01-09.html#1

[Deleted User]

thanks you guys! that really helped!

[Beka27]

Posted By TankAndRangersMom on 04/30/2009 06:00 PM
The swine flu isn’t spread by consuming pigs. They’re going to stop calling it swine flu and start calling it H1N1.

Yes… the pigs act as a host for the virus.  Slaughtering pigs in Mexico is not going to stop what has already spread to the US and other parts of the world tho but I guess they’re doing it for a reason…    The name change came by the request of the pork industry I guess… they didn’t like the bad publicity… even if it were inaccurate.
 

[KytKattin]

Well as I see it, at this point it’s already morphed into something that is transmitted from human to human so killing the pigs at this point isn’t going to help much since humans move around a lot more than we move pigs around. Plus we aren’t moving pigs around because of it so what’s the point of killing them at this stage in the game?

[LittlePuffyTail]

Swine flu, avian flu….hmmmm could it be that factory farming is making us sick?

[Author]

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