Buenos Aires, September 13 (EFE) – Argentinian health authorities have detected the first case of an elephant seal infected with avian influenza in the Chubut province (southern) of Patagonia, where the disease has spread throughout the country Eruption among sea lions. The country’s coastline in Atlantic waters.
The National Agricultural Food Sanitation and Quality Service (Senasa) confirmed in a statement that several cases of marine mammals infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 virus have been detected in sea lions and elephant seals in these areas. Found dead. Commodore Rivadavia, Radatili and Punta Tumba.
The new cases add to those already detected in recent weeks in Argentina’s Atlantic coast provinces of Buenos Aires, Rio Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz.
Andrea Marcos, general coordinator of epidemiology at the Senesa National Animal Health Service, confirmed to EFE that the elephant seal’s carcass was found next to the remains of two sea lions, which also tested positive for avian influenza.
The virus has not yet been detected in birds or cattle sampled in the area, so authorities still don’t know how it spreads.
In a general advisory, Argentinian authorities advised people not to come into contact with the excrement of animals suspected of being infected with avian influenza, as transmission occurs through direct and indirect contact, through vehicles, footwear or clothing.
However, Marcos acknowledged that the country’s health authorities still don’t know how the virus will develop in the coming months and what risks the outbreak will pose to humans since it first emerged in Argentina last February.Effie
jgv/cmm/enb