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Pet a pig, wash your hands.
York County fair officials said they will be frequently reminding visitors next month of that advice to sanitize their hands after coming in contact with the farm animals.
That's because an outbreak of a mild form of H1N1 - or swine flu - has been connected to people who handled pigs at fairs in Ohio and Indiana.
"We're going to take extra efforts," said fair general manager Mike Froehlich.
The York Fair already requires all incoming animals to be inspected by a veterinarian. And the animals are monitored on site to make sure they don't show symptoms of illness, he said.
Signs and announcements will be made to tell people to wash their hands frequently. The fair runs Sept. 7-16.
There isn't any sort of panic, however, as this new strain of H1N1 flu has mild symptoms and it's not really spreading from person to person.
"This is not a pandemic situation," said Dr. Joseph Bresee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The national case count jumped from 29 a week ago to 158 this week, thanks to a wave of new cases in Indiana and Ohio, said Bresee, the agency's chief of influenza epidemiology.
Most of the infected patients are children - probably because many were working closely with raising, displaying and visiting pigs at the agricultural fairs, Bresee said.
The recent cases include at least 113 in Indiana, 30 in Ohio, one in Hawaii and one in Illinois, Bresee said in a conference call with reporters.
Pigs spread flu virus just like people do, with coughing, sneezing and runny noses, so people can get it by touching pigs or being near them.
Pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems should be particularly careful.
4-H no issue: York County already has one agricultural fair under way this month at the 4-H Center at 771 Stoverstown Road in West Manchester Township.
The York County 4-H Fair, which ends Monday, shouldn't have any issues, said Mary Jo Kraft, the 4-H director with Penn State Cooperative Extension.
They have pigs coming, but not until Monday and they are almost immediately going into the livestock auction.
"As long as people wash their hands, there's not going to be a problem," she said.
And that goes for coming in contact with any animal, Kraft said.
That tidbit will come in handy at the York Fair, which will have a new exotic animal exhibit this fall. Zebras, camels, antelopes and more will be at the fair, Froehlich said.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this story Reach Andrew Shaw at ashaw@yorkdispatch.com
