Any of you heard of pig eaters getting brucellosis?
Maybe I can tackle this one. The strains of Brucella carried by various animals, including dogs, are different. There can be cross-infection to some small extent, but hogs carry B. suis, cattle are B. abortus, dogs are B. canis etc. Brucellosis is a reportable disease and cases of it in the US are very rare in animals and humans thanks to eradication programs. To give you an idea of your risk of human infection, there has been less than 1 reported case per year in oklahoma since 1991 and most of these cases can be linked to travel outside of the United States.
There was a survey of the rate of B. suis infection in feral hogs done as recently as '09 with an estimated 4-5 million feral hogs in 35 states. 10 of these states were found to have endemic B. suis in their hogs and Oklahoma was not one of them. However, Texas was so the possibility of infection is always there as pigs are excellent swimmers!
B. suis is not present in our domestic hogs here in Oklahoma and there is constant testing to ensure that. If B. suis were present in our feral hogs at any significant percentage, you can be assured it would have popped up in the domestic herds. It simply hasn't at this point in time.
The bottom line is, Go ye hunt and kill! Wear your gloves when you dress your hogs and be clean. Cook them properly and enjoy.
You have more to worry about driving to and from hunting than you do about Brucella in the hogs you kill.
You sound like you know what you're talkin about. Either you are well educated, or a good BS'r... I respect both!
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