The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that a pig on an Oregon farm was infected with bird flu. This is the first time the virus has been detected in American pigs, raising concerns about the potential for bird flu to become a threat to humans.
The infection occurred on a backyard farm in Crook County, in the middle of the state, where different animals share water and live together. Last week, poultry on the farm were found to be infected with the virus, and tests this week showed that one of the five pigs on the farm was infected.
The farm was placed under quarantine and all five pigs were euthanized until additional testing could be performed. It is not a commercial farm, and U.S. agricultural officials said there is no concern about the safety of the country’s pork supply.
Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University, said the finding of bird flu in pigs raises concerns that the virus may be reaching a starting point to become a greater threat to people.
She explained that pigs can be infected with multiple types of influenza, and animals could play a role in making avian viruses better adapt to humans. Nuzzo noted that the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic had swine origins.
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“If we are trying to get ahead of this virus and prevent it from becoming a threat to the general public, knowing whether it is present in pigs is critical,” Nuzzo said.
The USDA has conducted genetic testing on farm poultry and has not seen any mutations that indicate the virus is gaining an increased ability to spread between humans. This indicates that the current risk to the public remains low, officials said.
A different strain of avian influenza virus has been reported in pigs outside the United States in the past and has not caused a human pandemic.
“It’s not a one-to-one relationship where pigs get viruses and cause epidemics,” said Troy Sutton, a Penn State researcher who studies influenza viruses in animals.
This version of bird flu – known as Type A H5N1 – is spreading widely in the United States among wild birds, poultry, cattle and a number of other animals. Officials say that its persistence increases people’s chances of being exposed to it and the possibility of them becoming infected.
Experts said that it is not necessarily surprising to discover that pigs were infected, given that many other animals have been infected with the virus.
Oregon hog infection “is noteworthy, but has it changed the threat level calculation?” No, it doesn’t, Sutton said. If the virus begins to spread more widely among pigs and if there are subsequent human infections, “we would be more concerned.”
So far this year, nearly 40 human cases have been reported — in California, Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Texas and Missouri — with mostly mild symptoms, including eye redness. All but one person had contact with infected animals.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
