US detects H5N1 bird flu in swine for the first time

CHICAGO: H5N1 bird flu was detected in a pig in a backyard farm in Oregon, the first detection of the virus in swine in the country, the US Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

Pigs were the source of the H1N1 flu pandemic, and have been implicated as the source of others, said Richard Webby, a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital virologist who studies flu in animals and birds for the World Health Organization.

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The finding of the virus in a small farm makes the pig infection less of a concern than if it had been detected in a commercial pig farm, he said.

“I think it probably doesn’t increase the risk much, but surely, if this virus starts transmitting in pigs, that absolutely increases the risk,” he said.