North Carolina state-fair officials are worried about swine flu -- not as much the visitors getting it, but the pigs and hogs.
The fair has set up two barriers between fairgoers and the animal competition pens. Signs have been put up outside the petting barn, asking humans to wash their hands before and after touching the animals and requesting anyone who has been sick in the past week to stay away. And owners are urged to get their pigs flu shots.
"We're trying to prevent people from spreading it to the pigs," Karen Beck, a state veterinarian overseeing fair animals, told the Raleigh News & Observer.
People who raise pigs are sensitive about swine flu, preferring to call it the H1N1 flu.
A sick pig at the state fair of North Carolina, the No. 2 hog-producing state in the U.S., could be a public-relations disaster.
"It has a lot of repercussions for the industry, which is already hurting," Beck said.
The fair also takes a number of steps to make sure infected livestock don't show up.
Animals at the petting zoo and others that might be touched by the public must have a certificate proving they were examined by a veterinarian at least 30 days, and no longer than 12 months, prior to the fair.
Animals in competitions go through a screening station of state veterinarians.
Pig farmers have been talking about all the precautions they can take for months, said Dennis Cook of Circle C Farm in Newton. He is best known for his dozen racing pigs, which come to complete with NASCARlike numbers, and his petting zoo.
"We have to protect the people," said Cook, adding that his pigs' health also is important.
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