Although Egypt remains free of the H1N1 virus the government is to continue with its cull of the pigs, reports Reem Leila As swine flu fears sweep the world governments everywhere are taking steps to prepare for a global pandemic. With no confirmed cases of swine flu within its borders Egypt has taken the unique step of culling all pigs. Despite opposition from pig breeders the General Authority for Veterinary Services (GAVS) has already slaughtered 22,000 animals out of an estimated 350,000. Dozens of dead pigs have been found in streets and on garbage piles in the Saqr Qureish area on the outskirts of Maadi. According to Engineer Amin El-Khayal, head of the Waste Management Unit at the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the ministry has nothing to do with these pigs and disposal of the corpses is the responsibility of the municipalities and GAVS. Hamed Samaha, head of GAVS, says the authority will send a team to collect the dead pigs and dispose of them hygienically. The authority has already received hundreds of complaints. On early Monday a veterinary team checked the dead animals to test for H1N1. The examination, says Samaha, suggests that the animals actually fell off a truck as they were being transported and were then hit by cars. Three weeks after the first cases of swine fly were reported in Mexico the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs ordered the removal of all pig farms away from residential areas. El-Khayal points out that the agency has already prepared a study suggesting new locations. It was presented to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif on Sunday. "We are waiting for cabinet approval before acting," says El-Khayal. The new location, he says, will be ready within two years. Under the plan pig farms will be relocated to a 238-acre site in the Al-Koraymat area, 27km from 15 May city and 11km from the Helwan- Koraymat road. The new location will also be used to recycle garbage, according to Presidential decree 338/2008. The new site has been approved by the ministries of health, housing, local development and agriculture. Egypt will continue slaughtering the nation's pigs until the end of May, says Saber Abdel-Aziz, a veterinarian at GAVS. The authority has called on the government to set up a special crisis management committee to deal with any virus outbreak. The committee would be tasked with addressing the environmental logistics of disposing of large numbers of dead pigs. Abdel-Aziz has also called on the government to intensify research into a possible vaccine for the virus. News reports have criticised the haphazard and unsanitary way in which pigs have been killed and moved to different sites and the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs for being ill- equipped to dispose of animals already slaughtered. El-Khayal refuses to accept any of the criticisms levelled, insisting that the ministry was perfectly prepared. "Pigs are buried in a hole between six to eight metres deep and covered with lime with other chemicals to guarantee safety," he claimed. Disposing of the organic waste the pigs would have consumed presents a different dilemma. "Each pig can eat up to 10 kilos of organic waste per day. More effort is now required of the waste- disposal companies if this is not to be left rotting in the streets," says pig breeder Marzouk Adli. Adli points out that the price of pork has decreased to just LE5 a kilo whereas until recently it was sold for between LE30 and LE80. "The compensation the government is paying us is not enough," insists Adli. In an attempt to persuade pig breeders to relinquish their pigs the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation has announced that breeders will be allowed title to the land on which new farms are to be built and granted easy, 20-year credit terms for its purchase. Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza confirms that pig breeders can return to breeding pigs in the new locations after six months. Old pens are currently being sterilised as a precautionary measure. According to Abaza the government has increased the compensation for each pig slaughtered from LE100 to LE250. Adli is not impressed by the offer of land title. "I doubt the government will allow us to buy the new lands at cheap prices unless they are void of any infrastructure," he says. Fears have been expressed that there could be contamination from pork to other products in meat processing factories. It is a possibility, concedes Samaha. "The authority and police are conducting spot checks," he says, though whether that will reassure consumers who fear pork may inadvertently appear in frozen kofta, burgers and the like remains to be seen. Since H1N1 is not transmitted via the digestive system there are no health concerns from such an overlap as long as the meat is cooked well, says Samaha. "The problem is that Muslim citizens do not eat pork. For the time being it is better to refrain from eating any processed meat," he advised. Health officials have been keen to underline that Egypt remains free of the H1N1 virus. Abdel-Rahman Shahin, official spokesman at the Ministry of Health, told Al-Ahram Weekly that there have been no reported cases of swine flu in Egypt so far. He warned that travellers still face medical checks upon arriving at any Egyptian port. He refuted rumours, fanned by the media, that public hospitals have reported suspected cases and that the government is covering them up. "All suspected cases have been dismissed from hospital. None tested positive," he said. The Ministry of Health has cancelled all doctors' vacations and set up a swine flu hotline (105). "The ministry will conduct more than 200 workshops covering all doctors and health workers. This is in addition to 4,600 workshops in villages and health clinics that aim to increase people's awareness of the H1N1 virus," says Shahin. "The Health Ministry is also preparing a booklet and will be posting up-to-date information on its website." A report issued by the Egyptian Cabinet Decision Support Centre (IDSC) revealed that 51,227 passengers coming from infected countries had been tested for the virus. They all proved negative. There have been more than 5,000 cases of swine flu reported worldwide, covering 29 countries. There have, so far, been 49 fatalities.
