When it comes to dealing with disease outbreaks, few have the experience of Dr. Ron DeHaven. Many remember him as the cool-headed, straight-shooting front man for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) when the United States experienced its first BSE-positive cow. A few years later he demonstrated the same honest integrity when avian influenza or “bird flu” came flying out of Asia.
Today, DeHaven is Chief Executive Officer of the American Veterinary Medical Association and clearly states the current H1N1 virus is not from pigs.