If the influenza virus infecting cattle workers starts a pandemic, help in the form of a vaccine is months away

H5N1 influenza has now been detected in pigs. This was something virologists had been worrying about ever since this highly pathogenic strain of bird flu started its rapid global spread in 2020. But why were we worrying specifically about pigs? And does this case – detected on a farm in Oregon on October 29 – change anything?

The case in Stevens County was found Friday in a medium-size backyard flock of mixed bird types in or near Chewelah, according to the department’s avian flu dashboard. Medium flocks range from 100 to 1,000 birds. The case in Okanogan County was found in a small backyard flock with less than 100 birds in Omak the same day.

Last week eastern Washington farm workers tested positive for bird flu after being in close contact with sick poultry. A pig in Oregon tested positive this week.

Birds and humans have different types of receptors in their respiratory tract that flu viruses attach to, like a lock (receptors) and key (virus). The attachment of the virus allows it to invade a cell and the body and cause illness. Avian flu viruses are adapted to birds, and spread easily among birds, but not in humans.

A pig at a backyard farm in the US state of Oregon tested positive for H5N1 avian flu, the first such case in the United States, officials said Wednesday.