America Detects First Case Of Bird Flu In Pigs In Oregon

UNSPLASH/Sandy Millar ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - H5N1 bird flu was confirmed in a pig in the back yard of a farm in Oregon. This is the first detection of the virus in pigs in the country.

Muncul kekhawatiran khusus terhadap penyebaran flu burung pada babi karena mereka dapat terinfeksi bersama dengan virus burung dan manusia, yang dapat bertubah gen untuk membentuk virus baru yang lebih berbahaya dan lebih mudah menginfeksi manusia.

US Department of Agriculture, USDA, said there was no risk to the national pork supply due to Oregon cases and the risk of bird flu to the public was still low.

Pigs were the source of the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009-2010, and are considered to be another source of the pandemic, said Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Children's Research Hospital. Jude studied the flu on animals and birds for the World Health Organization.

The discovery of the virus on small farms makes infections in pigs less worrying than if the virus is detected on commercial pig farms, he said.

"I don't think this might increase the risk much, but for sure, if this virus starts to spread to pigs, it will definitely increase the risk," he said.

Oregon farms have been quarantined, and other animals there, including sheep and goats, are under scrutiny, USDA said.

Pigs and poultry on farms were culled to prevent the spread of the virus and allow additional testing of the pigs. Tests on the two pigs are still awaiting results.

This pig case comes from wild birds and not from poultry farms or milk. Wild bird migration has brought bird flu to flocks of poultry and livestock.

This case is one of the factors driving USDA to expand bird flu surveillance by including national bulk milk testing.

"Although this virus is a different variety and is associated with wild birds, it is a factor that ensures that we understand and understand precisely the location of the virus in dairy and cow products," said Agriculture Minister Tom Vilsack.

USDA says the pigs on Oregon farms are not meant for commercial food supplies.

However, these findings put pressure on the price of Lean hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a trader said.

Poultry and pigs in the back yard share water sources, housing and equipment, all of which serve as routes of transmission of the virus between animals in other states, the agency said.

"This detection is a warning for pig breeders to be aware of further infections," said Marie Culhane, a professor of animal-populated medicine at the University of Minnesota who researched the flu virus in pigs.

"People need to start up their plans to deal with it if it happens to other groups," Culhane said. Babi is very good at transmitting influenza virus," he added.

This year, 36 people tested positive for bird flu because the virus had spread to nearly 400 dairy farms. All but one person is a farm worker who has had contact with infected animals.

Since 2022, this virus has 'exterminated' more than 100 million poultry in the worst bird flu outbreak ever in the country.