Should H5N1 avian flu in migratory birds and mammals be a cause for concern? – Exemption

The highly pathogenic H5N1 virus discovered in poultry farms is now infecting mammals (polar bears, elephant seals, cats) after a massacre in wild birds. Worried about the silent “genocide” of biodiversity, scientists also fear possible transmission to humans.

Melting sea ice driven by climate change, poaching, pollution… We know that polar bears have been threatened by human activities for years. An element has now been added to this list: highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). A deadly strain of this avian flu, the H5N1 virus, killed a polar bear in northern Alaska (United States) in October. Confirmed in late December by local authorities after the animal’s tissue was studied, the death is the first globally. According to the researchers, the death of the emblematic animal of the Far North represents a potential ecological disaster because the plantigrade cannot withstand the wrath of the virus alone. away from there.

Typically, in October, thousands of elephant seals flock to breed on the long pebbly beaches of the Valdes Peninsula, in Patagonia, Argentina. But in 2023, many mammals nod painfully, snot dripping from their prominent noses.