infection
The bird flu virus has already infected several mammals. Now it has been detected for the first time in a dead polar bear. This poses an additional threat to already endangered Arctic species, the New York Times reported today, based on findings from Alaska's environmental agency in December.
04.01.2024 12.43
Online since today, 12:43 pm
The bear was discovered in northern Alaska near Utqiagvik. It is still unclear how many bears in total are infected with the deadly virus. But the bear shows how widespread the virus is now. “The number of reported infections in mammals continues to increase,” said Bob Gerlach, Alaska state veterinarian with the Department of Environmental Conservation. The polar bear may have become infected after eating a dead or sick bird. According to the New York Times report, infections have already been discovered in a grizzly bear, an American black bear and several red foxes in Alaska.
According to one study, there were a total of four major outbreaks of the H5 virus group pathogen after 2006. The ongoing outbreak is caused by a variant of the H5N1 subtype of bird flu. It has led to the deaths of numerous seabirds – and also mammals – in the Northern Hemisphere, southern Africa, the Atlantic, the Pacific and South America. Since late last year, thousands of dead sea creatures have been found on the coast of Pacific, first in Peru and later also in Chile – such as pelicans, penguins, sea otters, seals and marine mammals.
Cases also in Antarctica
According to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), cases of infected birds have already been identified in Antarctica. “Bird flu could trigger a major environmental disaster in Antarctica,” marine biologist Ralf Sonntag of the environmental protection organization Pro Wildlife said of the evidence in October.
Bird flu has also regularly plagued Europe for years. Although in the past the bird migration-related pathogen mainly occurred in the cold season, since 2021 infections have occurred year-round. In Germany, for example, gulls, terns and northern geese were affected. Cats, foxes, mink, mink and seals also died. According to the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, people have only been infected in very rare cases.