Bird flu has been detected in swine in the US for the first time, raising concerns about the threat to humans
A pig on an Oregon farm has tested positive for bird flu, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday. This is the first time the virus has been found in pigs in the US and raises concerns about the possibility of bird flu becoming a threat to humans.
The disease occurred on a backyard farm in Crook County, in the middle of the state, where different animals share water and are housed together. Last week it was found that the chickens of this farm have this virus, and this week it was found that one out of five pigs in this farm has this virus.
The farm was quarantined and all five pigs were killed for further testing. It is not a commercial farm, and US agriculture officials said there are no concerns about the safety of the pork.
But finding bird flu in a pig raises concerns that the virus could make the leap to becoming a serious threat to humans, said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University.
Pigs can be infected with many types of influenza, and animals can play a role in making bird viruses better adapted to humans, he explained. The 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic had a swine origin, Nuzzo noted.
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“If we're trying to contain this virus and prevent it from becoming a public hazard, knowing that it's in pigs is important,” Nuzzo said.
The USDA conducted genetic tests on farm chickens and found no changes that indicate the virus is gaining an increased ability to spread to humans. That indicates that the risk to the public remains low, officials said.
A different strain of the bird flu virus has been reported in pigs outside the US in the past, and it has not caused a human pandemic.
“It's not a person-to-person contact, where pigs get infected with the virus and cause an epidemic,” said Troy Sutton, a Penn State researcher who studies influenza viruses in animals.
This type of bird flu – known as Type A H5N1 – has become widespread in the US among wild birds, chickens, cattle and a number of other animals. Its persistence increases the chances of people being exposed and possibly caught, officials said.
It is not surprising that swine flu has been found, as many other animals are infected, experts say.
The Oregon swine infection is “significant, but does it change the threat level calculation? No it's not,” said Sutton. If the virus starts to spread widely among pigs and if there are subsequent human infections, “we will be very worried.”
So far this year, about 40 human cases have been reported – in California, Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Texas and Missouri – with very mild symptoms, including redness of the eyes, have been reported. All but one person had been in contact with infected animals.
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