The first known case of avian influenza in pigs in the United States was confirmed at a small farm in Crook County on Wednesday.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, confirmed at least one of five pigs at the farm tested positive for the H5N1 virus — the same strain that’s made its way across the country and has caused an outbreak in over 100 million poultry birds since 2022. Usually sick birds are euthanized to prevent them from entering the food supply.
USDA officials say the pig farm was noncommercial, and the animals were not intended to enter the commercial food supply. Officials say there is no concern about the safety of the nation’s pork supply. All five pigs, as well as 70 birds at the property that also tested positive for the virus, were humanely euthanized, according to a statement from the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
There are other animals like sheep and goats at the farm that officials are monitoring for symptoms of the virus.
Unlike the name suggests, avian flu can jump to other animals, including wild mammals like seals, dolphins, mountain lions and grizzly bears. Earlier this year, scientists discovered the virus can jump to dairy cattle, though no cases have been reported in Oregon cattle. At least 14 states, including California and Idaho, have confirmed herds there have tested positive for the virus.
Avian influenza can be fatal to poultry birds like chicken, although health officials do emphasize the risk of bird flu in humans is low. But it is more likely to affect people who are in close contact with sick animals — some scientists warn that public health officials need to ramp up testing on farm workers exposed to sick animals or risk cases going undetected.
Oregon officials recently confirmed a case of avian influenza at a Clackamas County commercial egg farm. At least two farmworkers in southeast Washington tested positive for the virus after being in close contact with sick chickens at a commercial farm.
USDA officials have tested the virus found at the farm, and say it does not seem to have mutated or become more transmissible to people.
“USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories has conducted genomic sequencing of virus from the poultry infected on this farm, and that sequencing has not identified any changes to the H5N1 virus that would suggest to USDA and CDC that it is more transmissible to humans, indicating that the current risk to the public remains low,” read a USDA statement.
ODA officials say the agency is coordinating with other state and federal agencies to implement a quarantine area at the farm, cleaning and disinfecting the area where the animals were and monitoring people who were exposed to the sick animals.
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