This Wednesday, US authorities reported the case of a pig from an Oregon farm with bird flu and it is the first time that the virus has been detected in pigs in the United States. This has raised concerns about the possibility of bird flu becoming a threat to human health.
The infection occurred on a backyard farm in Crook County, located in the center of the state, where different animals share water and are housed together. The farm’s poultry was found to have the virus last week, and testing this week found that one of the farm’s five pigs had also become infected.
The farm has already been quarantined and the five pigs were euthanized so that further testing could be carried out. It should be noted that this is not a commercial farm.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) He assured that there is no reason to worry 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 greater threat to people.
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Jennifer Nuzzo, a pandemic researcher at Brown University, explained that pigs can be infected with multiple types of flu and may help avian viruses adapt better to humans.
The USDA has performed genetic testing on the farm’s poultry and has not found mutations that indicate that the virus is gaining a greater ability to spread to people. That indicates that current risk to the public remains lowofficials said.
This version of bird flu, known as type A H5N1, It has 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, authorities warn.
However, Troy Sutton, a researcher at Penn State University, noted that There is no direct correlation, where pigs become infected with the virus and cause pandemics. He also mentioned that the contagion of pigs in Oregon “is worthy of attention,” but assured that it does not increase the level of risk.
If the virus begins to spread more widely among pigs and if there are subsequent human infections, “then we’re going to be more concerned,” added researcher Troy Sutton.
So far this year, 40 human infections have been reported in California, Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Texas and Missouri. Most symptoms have been mildincluding redness of the eyes, and all but one case has been related to contact with infected animals.
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