CNN
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Three grizzly bears had been euthanized in Montana after they turned sick and examined optimistic for the extremely pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, based on the state’s Division of Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
These had been the primary documented circumstances of fowl flu in a grizzly in Montana and the primary nationwide for this outbreak of HPAI, based on Dr. Jennifer Ramsey, the division’s wildlife veterinarian.
The juvenile bears had been in three separate areas within the western a part of the state throughout the fall, the Division of Fish, Wildlife & Parks mentioned in a press release.
The bears “had been noticed to be in poor situation and exhibited disorientation and partial blindness, amongst different neurological points,” the assertion mentioned. “They had been euthanized as a consequence of their illness and poor situation.”
Avian influenza – generally referred to as fowl flu – is a naturally occurring virus that spreads rapidly in birds. There have been documented circumstances of HPAI in a skunk and a fox in Montana final 12 months, and the virus has been seen in raccoons, black bears and a coyote in different states and international locations, based on the Montana company.
“The virus is unfold from one fowl to a different,” Dr. Ramsey advised CNN through e-mail. “These mammals probably acquired contaminated from consuming carcasses of HPAI contaminated birds.”
“Fortuitously, in contrast to avian circumstances, usually small numbers of mammal circumstances have been reported in North America,” Ramsey mentioned. “For now, we’re persevering with to check any bears that exhibit neurologic signs or for which a reason for dying is unknown.”
Whereas discovering three grizzlies with fowl flu in a brief time period could increase issues, Ramsey mentioned it might be that there have been extra circumstances that haven’t been detected.
“When wildlife mortalities happen in such small numbers or people, and in species like skunks, foxes and bears that don’t spend numerous time in conditions the place they’re extremely seen to the general public, they are often laborious to detect,” the wildlife veterinarian mentioned.
“If you get that first detection you have a tendency to start out wanting tougher, and also you’re extra more likely to discover new circumstances,” she mentioned. “When a lot of birds are discovered lifeless on a physique of water, it will get observed and reported… when somebody sees a lifeless skunk, they could assume nothing of it and never report it.”
Whereas it’s unknown simply how prevalent the virus is in wild birds, “we all know that the virus is energetic principally throughout all the state because of the extensive distribution of circumstances of HPAI mortality in some species of untamed birds,” Ramsey mentioned.
The US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention mentioned in November the nation was approaching “a file variety of birds affected in comparison with earlier fowl flu outbreaks,” with greater than 49 million birds in 46 states dying or being killed as a consequence of publicity to contaminated birds.
Human infections with fowl flu are uncommon however are potential, “normally after shut contact with contaminated birds. The present danger to most people from fowl flu viruses is low,” the CDC says on its web site.
The Montana Division of Fish, Wildlife & Parks is asking folks to report any birds or animals performing “uncommon or unexplained circumstances of illness and/or dying.”