A pig was infected with bird flu in Oregon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday.
Meanwhile, six bird flu cases were confirmed in humans in Washington and three more human cases were reported in California this week, bringing the national total of human infections to 36 cases since April 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Tuesday.
All human cases since the outbreak began, apart from two people in Missouri, occurred when workers came into direct contact with farm animals.
Pigs, in particular, are sometimes called a “mixing vessel,” for flu viruses because they can pool together human and bird flu viruses at the same time, STAT reported.
“If it starts to spread from pigs to pigs, then it’s much more of a problem,” he said.
In Oregon, the United States, a pig contracted bird flu. S. Agriculture’s Department released a report on Wednesday. The H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu, has infected a pig for the first time in the United States. This is concerning because it adds another mammalian reservoir for the pathogen, potentially increasing the risk of a pandemic.
In the meantime, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that 36 human infections have occurred nationwide since April 2024, with six confirmed human bird flu cases in Washington and three additional human cases reported in California this week. Over half of all confirmed human cases of the virus have been reported in the last two weeks, indicating that the rate of human infection is increasing.
With the exception of two individuals in Missouri, every human case since the outbreak started happened as a result of direct contact between farm animals and workers. How the two infected people in Missouri, who lived together, came into contact with the virus was not discovered during an investigation. It did, however, allay worries that the virus had evolved the capacity to spread between people by confirming that none of the medical personnel who treated the patients were infected.
Although the CDC maintains that the general public has a “low” risk of catching bird flu, many public health experts are worried that as the virus spreads, it will have more opportunities to change into a form that can infect people more effectively.
According to STAT, pigs in particular are sometimes referred to as a “mixing vessel” for flu viruses because they have the ability to simultaneously pool human and bird flu viruses. It is feared that different viruses may coexist in the body, exchange genes, and create a new strain that is more effectively contagious.
“If it only occurred on that one farm and doesn’t spread from pig to pig, it’s not a big deal,” Florian Krammer, a flu virologist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York, told STAT.
“It’s much more of a problem if it starts to spread from pigs to pigs,” he stated. “If it finds its way into sizable pig populations in the U. S. Like cows, I believe this would be disastrous. “”.
