A case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was confirmed for the first time in a pig in Oregon. The Swine Health Information Center Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says it was a pig co-housed with poultry, sheep, and goats in a small backyard farm.

“These animals were housed together, shared water sources, shared housing, and shared equipment. And the detection in one of the five pigs that lived on the operation occurred a few days after the poultry was depopulated due to the detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.”

Niederwerder says this first case is important because the pig was non-clinical while living with infected birds.

“These pigs were housed in very close proximity with these birds that were affected by H5N1 with a high mortality rate, so the mortality rate and clinical disease were seen in the poultry and then the pig showed no clinical signs.”

Any time a virus is detected in a new species for the first time, Niederwerder says it’s important to understand and look at its risk to commercial animals. In this case, that means reconsidering mixed-species operations.

“We can no longer think about the risk to pigs being through other swine farms or feral swine. We have to think about that there are risks to our big population through co-housing with birds or even with dairy cattle or to operational connections of farms.”