According to a new study, bird flu has changed so that it can move more easily between birds and marine mammals, increasing the risk to humans.
Four sea lions, one fur seal, and a tern discovered dead in Argentina tested positive for the avian influenza virus H5N1, according to researchers.
Furthermore, genetic investigation found that the virus was substantially identical in all of the animals, with shared adaptations previously discovered in a human case in Chile as well as sea lions in Peru and Chile.
The discovery of the same virus in the tern points to a multi-species outbreak, according to researchers.
“This confirms that while the virus may have adapted to marine mammals, it still has the ability to infect birds,” said lead researcher Agustina Rimondi, a virologist at Argentina’s National Institute of Agricultural Technology.
Senior researcher Marcela Uhart, a wildlife veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, describes the current H5N1 strain, clade 2.3.4.4b, as a “new monster”.The discovery of the same virus in the tern points to a multi-species outbreak, according to researchers.
“This virus is still relatively low risk for humans,” Uhart stated in a university press release.
he said, “as long as the virus continues to replicate in mammals, it may make it a higher concern for humans,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important to conduct surveillance and provide early warning.”
The new type appeared in 2020, during the pandemic, and began killing tens of thousands of seabirds in Europe before spreading to South Africa.
The variety first appeared in the United States and Canada in 2022, then spread to Peru and Chile before arriving in Argentina in February 2023.
Six months later, in August 2023, the variant was discovered in sea lions off the coast of Tierra del Fuego in South America’s Atlantic Ocean. It then migrated quickly northward, infecting and killing first marine mammals and subsequently seabirds.
Bird flu found in sea mammals, increasing the risk to humans.
A recent research co-authored by Uhart described a significant outbreak that killed 70% of elephant seal pups during the 2023 mating season, with mortality rates reaching at least 96% in examined portions of Argentina.
“When it first came to Argentina, we didn’t know if it would affect elephant seals,” Uhart said in a statement. “We never imagined the magnitude of what was to come.”
Since 2022, the H5N1 bird flu has claimed the lives of at least 600,000 wild birds and 50,000 animals across South America. Elephant seals and sea lions died in Argentina, Chile, and Peru, as did thousands of albatrosses in the Malvinas/Falkland Islands.
The virus is also moving south from South America, and researchers are concerned about a possible outbreak among penguins and other species in Antarctica.
The new study was published on February 27 in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“We need to keep an eye on the ability of this virus to reach species that have never been exposed to an H5N1 infection before,” he said. “The consequences in those species can be very severe.” ‘
For More Information- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about H5N1 bird flu.