"This is exceptionally rapid detection of an outbreak in free-ranging marine mammals, said professor Christine Johnson, director of the Institute for Pandemic Insights at UC Davis' Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. We have most likely identified the very first cases here because of coordinated teams that have been on high alert with active surveillance for this disease for some time."
"In late 2022, the virus decimated southern elephant seal populations in South America and several sub-Antarctic Islands. At some colonies in Argentina, 97% of the pups died, while on South Georgia Island, researchers reported a 47% decline in breeding females between 2022 and 2024. Researchers believe tens of thousands of animals died."
"The virus is better known in the U.S. for sweeping through the nation's dairy herds, where it infected millions of cows, dozens of dairy workers and thousands of wild, feral and domestic mammals. It's also been found in wild birds and killed millions of commercial chickens, geese and ducks."
H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed in seven weaned seal pups at California's Ano Nuevo State Park, confirmed by the USDA laboratory in Ames, Iowa. This marks the first detection of the virus in North Pacific marine mammals. The virus previously devastated South American elephant seal and sea lion populations, with mortality rates reaching 97% at some Argentine colonies and causing tens of thousands of deaths across the region between 2022 and 2024. The virus has also infected dairy herds across the U.S., affecting millions of cows and numerous dairy workers, while spreading through wild birds and commercial poultry populations globally. Researchers credit coordinated surveillance teams for the rapid detection of this outbreak in free-ranging marine mammals.
Read at www.latimes.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]