Sea lions infected with bird flu: “We don’t know how many will survive”

Some 50 sea lions in Mar del Plata have died from bird flu in recent days, leading experts to voice their concerns and admit they don’t know how many such animals will be affected by the virus, which they estimate impact of viruses. When it was passed on to these mammals, it mutated, so it’s unclear whether it would affect humans, the town’s La Capital reported. In my city, there has been no official information on the number of dead specimens since the discovery last Tuesday.

“It’s a matter of concern,” said Juan Lorenzani, president of the Argentinian Foundation for Animals (FFA), adding that in the more than 40 years he’s worked with sea lions, he’s never encountered a Been in a similar situation. “We’ve seen cases where animals got contaminated with oil and got sick, but nothing like this,” he said.

In this case, Lorenzani explained, “according to the available data, it all started in early August in Tierra del Fuego, where the first samples of avian influenza were detected.” Several locations in Patagonia have been spotted. About 50 wolves showing daily symptoms were found in Necochea about 10 days ago, and about 50 dead wolves have congregated in the city.”

“And then they started dying here in Mar del Plata,” he continued, clarifying that “the Necochea wolf population is related to the Mar del Plata population.” species,” he elaborated, explaining that “the Mar del Plata population averages 800 specimens.”

Faced with this situation, a multidisciplinary team was formed to tackle the problem, consisting of personnel from the Ports Alliance, the National Service of Agro-Food Hygiene and Quality (Senasa), experts from the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP), provincial , Civil Defense and Argentinian Fauna.

In this sense, Lorenzani said that in the city “symptomatic animals started to appear, mainly trembling and convulsions”, while “about 30 dead animals were removed in the port, adding up to 20 more.” only animal” sorry. Different people find lifeless on the beach”.

“About 50 animals have died in Mar del Plata since the incident. This is a high number,” he warned.

In this context, the FFA president stressed that this is a “very difficult” situation because “there is no way to isolate these animals”. “It’s unclear how many people are affected, how many days this will last, how many people might survive or how many people will die,” he warned. “Eleven o’clock on Monday”.

Likewise, Lorenzani recalls that they first became aware of bird flu in sea lions “in February in Peru,” noting that in that country “they had the same problems we had: animal swabs, deaths in protected areas.” animals and at the beach”.

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about it because the virus doesn’t exist in sea lions, but it does in birds. The problem is that, for some reason, the virus spread from birds to sea lions,” he said, adding, ” It is thought that it may be spread through feces or mucus.”

“Because it’s in sea lions, the strain is mutated, which means it’s something new,” he warned.

Source: Capital