The bear was found dead in October, but now the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has announced that the animal was killed by bird flu. “As far as we know, this is the first time that a polar bear has died from the virus,” veterinarian Bob Gerlach from the American state of Alaska told the newspaper. Alaska Beacon.
The doctor says it is likely that the polar bear ate a dead bird that carried the virus. It is also possible that more polar bears have already been killed by the disease, but have not been discovered and examined by humans.
Bears, foxes and sea lions
The current variant of the virus emerged in 2021 and has since spread worldwide. It is striking that more and more different animal species are becoming infected and dying from it. In Poland, for example, cats succumbed to bird flu, as did brown and black bears, foxes, badgers and otters. Entire colonies of birds were also wiped out, such as predatory gulls and penguins in Antarctica.
The virus also appears in remote places around the world, such as the Scottish island of Foula. A colony of sea lions was previously hit on Bird Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, just like in Antarctica.
The more mammals prove susceptible to bird flu, the greater the risk that a variant could one day spread to humans. For the time being, that risk is still limited, but virologist and bird flu expert Thijs Kuiken previously told RTL News that it cannot be ruled out, for example through direct contact with an infected cat. “For example, because you come into contact with respiratory secretions such as saliva or snot from a sick cat.”
‘No more bird disease’
In The Guardian says emeritus professor Diana Bell of the University of East Anglia (in Norwich, England) that she finds the development frightening. “But I am not surprised by it. In recent years, the list of infected mammals has been growing longer. The variation in animals is now so great that it is no longer just a disease of birds.”
We previously made this video about the risk that people can also be at risk from the virus:
2024-01-03 17:23:26
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