Pigs exhibited at the fair in Frederick County tested positive for swine flu, the Maryland Department of Agriculture said Sunday.
Eleven pigs were infected with influenza A, which causes the flu in birds and some mammals. The agriculture department said it did not know if the strain was transmissible to humans.
The news comes after seven Marylanders were sickened by swine flu contracted from pigs at at the Charles County Fair. They all had close contact with pigs and none had to be hospitalized. Another 13 people fell ill with swine flu after contact with pigs at the Queen Anne’s County fair in 2012.
All pigs at the Frederick County fairgrounds are under a quarantine order from the agriculture department and will not be released until a week after the last pig shows signs of the flu. The agriculture department also suspended all swine exhibitions and any other activities involving swine at the St. Mary’s and Calvert county fairs.