We could be in for a terrible nightmare if pigs get bird flu

We could be in for a terrible nightmare if pigs get bird flu

An unsettling number of animals have already contracted H5N1. It is more likely to change into something that may endanger people if it gets to pigs.

Because pigs may host both bird flu and human flu, the viruses can recombine some portions of their genetic makeup. (Source: Getty Images and Bloomberg))

The epidemic of bird flu among dairy cows is still causing concern, even with the encouraging news that pasteurized milk is unlikely to spread the H5N1 virus. The worst-case scenario that plagues scientists is that the virus will infect pigs and then spread to humans, starting a global health crisis.

At a May 2 briefing hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, Nirav Shah, senior deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that pigs "are the perfect vessels through which an even more virulent strain could emerge."

Because pigs may host both bird flu and human flu, the viruses can recombine some portions of their genetic makeup. An influenza pandemic in 2009 began with a pig-to-human spread. The H1N1 virus was only fortunate to avoid becoming any deadlier than the seasonal flu.

Now is the moment to proactively test animals, especially pigs, for the H5N1 virus in 2024, both ill and healthy-looking. Scientists own the test kits and concur that doing such testing is crucial to comprehending the circumstances. What they need is a quick policy reform that would guarantee the cooperation of farmers who worry about losing their whole business if their animals test positive.

Thanks to agreements that guarantee farmers they won't be financially destroyed by positive tests, thousands of hens and turkeys are already under surveillance. There is currently no mechanism in place to reimburse farmers for H5N1-infected cows or pigs, which means they have no motivation to allow public health authorities to do adequate testing. Government compensation for "culling" birds has generated controversy of its own. Recently, the US Department of Agriculture mandated dairy cow testing—but only in cases where the cows were being moved to neighboring states. It is the responsibility of our political leaders to implement further legislative reforms that will encourage farmers to collaborate with scientists and allow scientists to conduct the necessary research.

Testing on animals that seem healthy must fall under this as well. The virus may have been quietly spreading in cows since last December, according to a new genetic material investigation, much before the first instance was discovered in late March. It would be an error similar to not evaluating enough animals for asymptomatic diseases when Covid-19 was first discovered in early 2020. During the epidemic, it was one of the most heinous public health errors —

People who didn't fit certain requirements (such having recently visited China) couldn't be tested, which let the illness spread.

Scientists concur that close observation of cows, pigs, and agricultural laborers is necessary to prevent H5N1 from starting a human pandemic. Shah described the possibility of an H5N1 pandemic as "not insignificant," but as of right now, no systematic testing of asymptomatic farm animals is being done.

Pigs have also historically been silent carriers. According to Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, researchers discovered in 2014 that during Ohio state fairs, pigs and humans—many of whom were children—were exchanging cases of the H3N2 virus.

The flu prefers to attach itself to a sugar on the surface of cells, and because human sugars vary greatly from those of birds, bird influenzas often do not transfer to people, according to Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

Due to the presence of both types of sugars in pig respiratory tract cells, both virus types are able to enter and exchange parts. In the 1920s, the 1918 influenza virus, which caused widespread concern and is believed to have started as a bird flu, spread from people to pigs and then kept evolving there. In humans, it reappeared in 1957, 1968, and 2009. Bird flu has the ability to infect dozens of animal species, including minks, racoons, foxes, seals, and porpoises, as it has spread through domestic flocks in recent years. We really hope that pigs won't be the next.

However, the virus has a greater likelihood of spreading to pigs the more cow illnesses there are. They might get sick if their diet contains milk from diseased cows or if contaminated equipment is used. While the commercial milk undergoes pasteurization to eradicate the virus, raw milk is still extremely contagious and is the primary cause of death for several farm cats that have contracted H5N1.

"I'm not quite sure what's happening to all this contaminated milk," Webby remarked. may some be discarded uncooked in places where they may be consumed by other animals?

Osterholm said that more agricultural monitoring is essential. On one farm in Michigan, the virus has already spread from sick cows to poultry. To further understand how the illness is spreading among cows, scientists would need to collect more data, which would require implementing laws based after those that permit monitoring of poultry.

However, farmers who produce cows and pigs now see nothing benefiting from it other than financial loss and social shame. Farmers are often quite dubious about the federal government, according to Shah of the CDC. Because they are not entitled to paid sick leave, farm workers often worry about missing work, which makes farm worker testing more difficult.

Osterholm said, "Everyone is so worn out and exhausted from COVID-19 that they don't want to hear about another pandemic." However, just picture our feelings if we have to endure yet another terrible epidemic and a string of mishaps involving public health.

Credit: Bloomberg