A pig in Oregon has been confirmed to have contracted the bird flu. This is the first time a pig has gotten this virus, and the experts are warning that swine can be a ‘mixing vessel’ for new strains of flu.
According to a Wednesday announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the infected pig was from a backyard farming operation that had a “mix of poultry and livestock,” the press release stated.
“The livestock and poultry on this farm shared water sources, housing, and equipment; in other states, this combination has enabled transmission between species,” the release noted. Even though the pig was not showing any symptoms, it was tested out of an “abundance of caution” along with four other swine after other animals on the same farm tested positive for bird flu.
“This farm is a non-commercial operation, and the animals were not intended for the commercial food supply,” the USDA stated according to a report by Fox News. “There is no concern about the safety of the nation’s pork supply as a result of this finding,” the USDA added.
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News Senior Medical Analyst, noted that cattle are “definitely now a reservoir” for H5N1. “A solo pig isn’t concerning except for two things — how many more have it that we don’t know about, and that pigs are a mixing vessel for flu,” he told Fox News Digital. “There can be several different kinds of flu in swine at any given time, and they can exchange genetic material, creating new strains,” the doctor cautioned.
Dr. Benjamin Anderson, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health at the University of Florida, noted that while this appears to be an isolated event, there is still “some cause for concern.” Dr. Anderson agreed with Dr. Siegel that “as [viruses] are able to be infected by avian and human influenza virus strains.”
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