Bird flu discovered in Oregon farm pigs; first known case in U.S. pigs – National

a pig oregon It was confirmed that there was a farm. bird fluThe U.S. Department of Agriculture made the announcement Wednesday. This is the first time the virus has been discovered in U.S. pigs, raising concerns that avian flu could pose a threat to humans.

The outbreak occurred at a backyard farm in Crook County, in the center of the state, where a variety of animals share water and are housed together. Last week the virus was discovered in the farm’s poultry, and this week one in five pigs on the farm were found to be infected.

The farm was quarantined, all five pigs were euthanized, and additional testing was conducted. This is not a commercial farm, and U.S. agriculture officials have said there are no concerns about the safety of the nation’s pork supply.

But the discovery of avian flu in pigs raises concerns that the virus may be a stepping stone to a greater threat to people, said Jennifer Nuzzo, an infectious disease researcher at Brown University.

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Pigs can be infected with several types of flu, she explained, and animals may play a role in making avian viruses more adaptable to humans. The 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic originated in pigs, Nuzzo noted.

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“It’s important to know if the virus is present in pigs so we can get ahead of this virus and prevent it from becoming a threat to the wider public,” Nuzzo said.

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The USDA conducted genetic testing on the farm’s poultry and found no mutations that suggested an increased ability of the virus to spread to people. This means the risk to the public remains low at this time, officials said.

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Other types of avian flu viruses have been reported in pigs outside the United States in the past, and they have not triggered human pandemics.

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“It’s not a one-to-one relationship where pigs get infected with the virus and cause an epidemic,” said Troy Sutton, a Penn State researcher who studies flu viruses in animals.

This version of avian flu, known as Type A H5N1, is widespread among wild birds, poultry, cattle and many other animals in the United States. That persistence increases the chances that people will be exposed and potentially infected, officials say.

Experts said it was not surprising that the pig infection was discovered because many other animals were also infected with the virus.

The Oregon swine outbreak is “noteworthy, but does it change the threat level calculation? No, it’s not,” Sutton said. If the virus begins to spread more widely among pigs and subsequently leads to human infections, “then we will be more worried.”

So far this year, about 40 human cases have been reported in California, Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Texas and Missouri, with mostly mild symptoms including red eyes. All but one of the people had had contact with an infected animal.

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