The huge population of pigs in Europe threatens to become a "laboratory of a dangerous virus" if they are infected during the growing international outbreak of avian influenza, which has already spread to poultry, cattle and sheep, warned the EU's chief food safety officer Bernhard Url, the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.
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The continent must be on high alert after a mass infection of livestock in the US raised fears that the pathogen could mutate and spread between humans, said Bernhard Url, the outgoing Executive Director of the European Food Safety Agency.
His remarks underscore the concern caused by the penetration of the latest H5N1 avian influenza outbreak into other species.
The H5N1 outbreak in the United States, which began in March last year, has spread to dairy cattle in 17 states and to poultry in all 50. Authorities have confirmed dozens of human infections, including one fatal case. US authorities reported two cases of pig infection on a farm in Oregon last year, while the UK announced its first sheep infection in March.
Europe has a large pig population by world standards - 133.6 million head compared to 75.8 million head in the USA. China has about 400 million.
"Bird flu is definitely a special case in the sense that it is increasingly spreading from birds to mammals," Url said in an interview.
He pointed to the risk that if the pathogen starts circulating in pigs, it could exchange genetic material with human influenza and become transmissible between humans. Scientists see pigs as a particular risk because their biology makes them effective mixers for pathogens from both birds and humans.
"This would be... a dangerous viral laboratory for recombination," said Url, whose agency advises on existing and emerging food risks in the EU.
The situation with H5N1 in Europe is "relatively well under control," Url said, although he noted that outbreaks among poultry have led to the culling of millions of birds. Authorities, including his agency, are working to implement biosecurity measures, including farm closures and emerging threat assessments, he added.
"In the background, there is a system for monitoring, observing and collecting strains of migratory birds," said Url, who is due to step down in September after more than 11 years in office.
Other animal disease threats in Europe include African swine fever, bluetongue disease and foot and mouth disease, said Url, who grew up on an Austrian farm and trained as a veterinarian. Climate change is contributing to the spread in Europe of midges, which transmit bluetongue, a disease potentially fatal to sheep and deer.
The January foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Germany - the country's first in nearly 40 years - was "really unexpected," Url said. The disease was later detected on farms in Slovakia and Hungary, leading to the culling of thousands of animals. The outbreak forced Slovakia to close some border crossings with Hungary. Neighbouring Austria closed some crossings between itself and both countries. Since then, Germany has already been declared free of foot-and-mouth disease by the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Food safety standards in the EU were generally "really high", Url said, although the increase in antibiotic-resistant pathogens in livestock was a "major public concern". He added that efforts are continuing to reduce the use of resistance-inducing drugs in agriculture.