Wild birds like ducks transfer the infection, called extremely pathogenic bird influenza (HPAI), through their feces, plumes or direct contact with poultry. The infection has actually likewise spread out from wild birds to bears, foxes, otters and seals.
New Delhi,UPGRADED: Feb 6, 2023 09:41 IST
The United States bird influenza break out, which started in February 2022, contaminated flocks of poultry and non-poultry birds throughout 46 states.
By India Today Web Desk: A fatal bird influenza killed over 50 million birds in the United States in 2020. However the bird influenza break out in the United States has the possible to become a pandemic if it overflows into mammalian types, a report said.
The bird influenza caused by the H5N1 avian influenza virus mostly affected birds on poultry farms in the US. But in 2020, gene-swapping between poultry and wild bird viruses created a “wild bird-adapted” version of the virus, as per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Wild birds like ducks transmit the virus, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), through their feces, feathers or direct contact with poultry. The virus has also spread from wild birds to bears, foxes, otters and seals.
READ | Avian flu break out wipes out over 50 million United States birds, a record
Similarly, in October last year, a large outbreak occurred on a mink fur farm was reported in Spain. Experts believe that wild birds initially transmitted H5N1 to the mink farm, but once there, it spread from mink to mink.
“This outbreak signals the very real potential for the emergence of mammal-to-mammal transmission,” Michelle Wille, a wild bird virus researcher from Australia told US media.
ALSO READ | 1,800 birds dead due to bird influenza outbreak in state-run poultry farm in Kerala’s Kozhikode
None of the workers who wore protective gear at the farm seem to have gotten infected. But some scientists worry that minks could be a kind of stepping stone for the virus to make a jump to humans as its respiratory system makes them a “good host” for the virus.
The US bird flu outbreak, which began in February 2022, infected flocks of poultry and non-poultry birds across 46 states, Reuters reported.
The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst United States animal-health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5 million birds that died in an bird-flu outbreak in 2015.
Birds often die after becoming infected. Entire flocks, which can top a million birds at egg-laying chicken farms, are likewise culled to control the spread out of the illness after a bird tests favorable.
