US authorities reported the case of a pig from an Oregon farm with bird flu. This is the first time the virus has been detected in pigs in the United States, raising concerns about the possibility that bird flu become a threat to human health.
The infection occurred on a backyard farm in Crook County, in the center of the state, where different animals share water and are housed together. Poultry on the farm were found to have the virus, and testing found that one of the farm’s five pigs had also become infected.
The farm was quarantined and the five pigs were euthanized so further testing could be done. This is not a commercial farmand the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) assured that there is no concern about the security of the pork supply in the country.
But the fact that bird flu was detected in a pig raises concerns that the virus could become a bigger threat to people, said Jennifer Nuzzo, a pandemic researcher at Brown University.
Pigs can be infected with multiple types of flu and may help avian viruses adapt better to humans, he explained. The 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic had swine origins, Nuzzo said.
“If we are trying to stay one step ahead of this virus and prevent it from becoming a threat to the general public, it is crucial to know if pigs are getting infected,” Nuzzo said.
The USDA has conducted genetic testing on the farm’s poultry and has found no mutations that indicate the virus is becoming more prevalent. ability to spread to people. That indicates the current risk to the public remains low, officials said.
Another strain of the bird flu virus had been detected in pigs outside the United States in the past, and it did not trigger a human pandemic.
There is no direct correlation, where pigs become infected with the virus and cause pandemics,” said Troy Sutton, a researcher at Penn State University who studies flu viruses in animals.
This version of bird flu, known as type A H5N1has been spreading widely in the United States among wild birds, poultry, cows, and other animals. Its persistence increases the chances that people will be exposed and contract it, officials warn.
It is not necessarily surprising that a swine infection has been detected, given that so many other animals have been infected with the virusthe experts said.
The pig contagion in Oregon “it is worth attracting attention”Sutton said, but assured that it does not increase the risk level. If the virus begins to spread more widely among pigs and if there are subsequent human infections, “then we are going to be more concerned,” the researcher added.
So far this year, 40 human infections have been reported in California, Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Texas and Missouri. Most symptoms have been mild, including redness of the eyes, and all but one case has been related to contact with infected animals.
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