Bird flu cases spill over to mammals in Oregon, across the U.S.

Oregon wildlife officers stated they’ve recognized a handful of untamed mammals with extremely pathogenic avian flu – however they don’t contemplate it an outbreak.

The illness, generally generally known as chicken flu, is often related to wild birds and yard flocks. It has killed hundreds of birds all through the state in current months and led to the dying and euthanization of hundreds of thousands of chickens and different home birds throughout the U.S.

The U.S. Agriculture Division has recorded avian flu infections in 110 mammals throughout the nation since Could 2022, together with six skunks and one raccoon in Oregon. The illness has not affected the state’s wildlife populations, stated state wildlife veterinarian Colin Gillin.

In different components of the U.S., foxes, coyotes, bobcats, fishers, possums, bears and even seals and dolphins additionally have been discovered to hold the illness.

Well being officers say it’s uncommon for chicken flu to spill over to mammals and the chance to people could be very low, although a number of hundred folks the world over have examined optimistic for the illness in previous years.

Sometimes, the wild mammals recognized are scavengers who probably ate a really sick or not too long ago lifeless chicken that carried chicken flu, stated Gillin. The animals additionally may need contracted the illness by congregating in areas contaminated with the virus, which may survive in feces or mud for a number of days.

Transmission of chicken flu from mammal to mammal has not been noticed up to now in Oregon or elsewhere, Gillin stated, besides on mink farms the place the animals are packed in cages nostril to nostril, with little air flow. Within the wild, he added, most animals don’t congregate in giant teams and are often exterior within the open air.

Human infections with chicken flu have most frequently occurred after shut or prolonged contact with contaminated birds or locations that the birds touched, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Whereas greater than 800 circumstances have been recorded world-wide since 2003,  fewer than 10 circumstances have been reported since 2021. The U.S. recorded its first case of avian influenza in people final April.

Homeowners of yard flocks needs to be particularly cautious about letting their birds go exterior if close by properties have ponds the place wild birds might land, Gillin stated. In addition they ought to look ahead to wild animals who is perhaps sick or lifeless, he stated.

In a single current case in Columbia County, investigators with the Oregon Division of Agriculture who responded to a yard flock sick with chicken flu discovered six skunks lifeless close by, division spokeswoman Andrea Cantu-Schomus stated.

Roughly 20 birds in a noncommercial flock needed to be euthanized, she stated. The skunks have been despatched to the Oregon Division of Fish and Wildlife and examined optimistic for chicken flu.

It’s unclear whether or not the lifeless skunks had contracted chicken flu by consuming contaminated yard birds or wild birds or by being current in an setting contaminated by the virus, Gillin stated.

Deadlier strains of chicken flu have been on the rise in recent times. Extremely pathogenic avian influenza has devastated wild birds and the poultry business throughout the globe. The virus is now endemic in Europe and Asia.

And avian flu circumstances will probably improve quickly in Oregon and elsewhere, Gillin stated, as wild birds begin to migrate from their southern wintering grounds up north as a part of their annual migrations. As extra wild birds and yard flocks get sick, extra mammals may additionally be recognized.

– Gosia Wozniacka; gwozniacka@oregonian.com; @gosiawozniacka

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