New flu strain spreading from pigs at county fairs

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Livestock exhibits are a popular part of farm country fairs, but they're coming with a warning this year: Don't pet the pigs. And wash your hands well after exhibiting swine.

Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain is relaying word from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It says human cases of swine flu rose last week from 29 to 158. Most of the patients were children who probably were infected while raising, displaying or visiting pigs at the fairs.

The CDC says the H3N2v virus may spread more easily to humans than is usual for swine flu viruses.

Strain says that so far, all the human cases are in other states. They include 120 in Indiana and 31 in Ohio.

The cases have generally been mild.