H5N1 originated in 1996 on a large Chinese geese farm and in 2005 switched to wild waterfowl in freshwater. The fact that it has now “finally” passed to the sea raises many questions, says Camphuysen. “Seabirds in all places have been spared so far. This greatly accelerates the spread of the virus among wild birds, possibly as far as the southern hemisphere.”
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For the research on Foula – to be published in the scientific journal Scottish Birds – Camphuysen and his Scottish colleague Sheila Gear examined a colony of large skua. Compared to a previous census in 2015, the population is estimated to have decreased by 60-70%. “The island’s freshwater pools were filled with decaying corpses of large skua killed by the flu,” Camphuysen says.
Further research is underway on Foula focusing on the question of “how long these areas will remain dangerous to humans and animals”. According to Camphuysen, such research is also in our interest, because people are also susceptible to H5N1. Research from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that since 2003, 863 people around the world have been infected with the virus, of which more than half (455 patients) have died.
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Health Service: Worst Bird Flu Outbreak Ever
The current avian flu epidemic is the worst ever recorded in Europe, reports the European health service ECDC. The highly pathogenic strain of the virus has spread to 37 European countries, from Spitsbergen in Norway to Ukraine.
Since the outbreak began last year, 2,467 outbreaks among poultry have been reported in Europe. In total 48 million birds were killed. In addition, 3,573 cases of the virus have been detected in wild birds.
People in Europe have not recently been infected with the avian flu virus, the health service said. The risk of the epidemic for public health is therefore low. The organization points out that the risk to people working with birds is greater. Staying “vigilant” is therefore important. The service stresses the importance of testing for zoonoses. These are infections that can be transmitted from animals to humans, as happened for example with the coronavirus.
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