Washington Post: Scientists study pig farming for answers on swine flu

TIPTON, IOWA It may be crowded and carpeted in manure, but the long, white building beside State Route 38 is one of the most pathogen-free homes a pig could have.

The animals never know the feel of grass, mud or sunshine, and hardly the touch of man, in their six months of life. But they are also free of many of the infections that slow the growth and occasionally end the lives of their outdoor cousins.

'We're producing the most efficient animal, one that is healthy every day,' said Devon Schott, the 34-year-old farmer who owns the building. To do that, he said, 'biosecurity is of utmost importance.'

Despite the buttoned-up methods of farmers such as Schott, many experts think pig farming presents a serious and overlooked risk to public health. Proof of that assertion -- indirect but indisputable, in the opinion of virologists -- is the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza.

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Washington Post: Scientists study pig farming for answers on swine flu