admin A pig at a farm in Oregon has tested positive for bird flu, marking the first time the virus has been detected in U.S. swine, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday. This discovery has raised concerns about bird flu’s potential risk to human health.
The infection was identified at a small farm in Crook County, central Oregon, where various animals share water and live in close quarters. Last week, poultry on the farm were confirmed to have bird flu, and subsequent testing revealed that one of the farm’s five pigs had contracted the virus.
Following this, the farm was placed under quarantine, and all five pigs were euthanised to allow for further testing. The farm is not a commercial operation, and U.S. agriculture officials have assured the public that there is no threat to the nation’s pork supply.
However, the detection of bird flu in a pig has sparked concerns that the virus may be evolving towards becoming a greater human health risk, explained Jennifer Nuzzo, a pandemic researcher at Brown University.
Pigs can carry various flu viruses, and their unique biology may help bird viruses adapt to infect humans more easily, explained Nuzzo. She pointed to the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, which had swine origins, as a reminder of how flu viruses can occasionally jump species and pose broader threats.
“If we’re aiming to stay ahead of this virus and prevent it from becoming a risk to the public, monitoring its presence in pigs is vital,” Nuzzo said.
The USDA has conducted genetic testing on the farm’s poultry, finding no mutations that would indicate the virus is adapting to spread more effectively to humans. Officials say this suggests the current risk to the public remains low. While a different strain of bird flu has appeared in pigs outside the U.S. before, it did not lead to a human pandemic.
“It’s not a straightforward relationship—just because pigs get infected doesn’t mean a pandemic will follow,” added Troy Sutton, a flu researcher at Penn State.
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