Scientists on excessive alert for hen flu as seabirds return to UK coast

Scientists are on excessive alert for a brand new inflow of hen flu as seabirds return to the UK coast in giant numbers for the nesting season.

A second summer time of mass mortality would have a devastating impact on the inhabitants of gannets and another species.

And it could additionally increase the danger of the virus being transferred to mammals.

In an unique interview, Professor Ian Brown, the director of scientific providers on the authorities’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), informed Sky News that the supply of the virus behind final 12 months’s die-off was nonetheless unclear.

“It looks like the virus was introduced into seabird colonies by another population,” he stated.

“So rather than those gannets going out to sea and being exposed to the virus, it’s more probable they were exposed to other birds that mingled in their colony.

“Gulls, which we all know are very vulnerable to this virus, can carry it and might shed it. So in idea they will introduce it right into a colony.

“Once it gets into the colony, those birds are really tightly packed and the virus spreads very fast.”

The H5N1 virus prompted hundreds of deaths in seabirds final 12 months.

After spending the winter out at sea, gannets, guillemots, puffins and kittiwakes are starting to congregate in giant numbers on steep cliffs to boost their younger.

“Hopefully those birds will come back and will have a healthy breeding season and they won’t be exposed to virus,” stated Prof Brown.

“But knowing what happened last summer, we’ve got to be more watchful and look for early events that signal maybe the virus has come back.”

Volunteers and wardens for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) are checking colonies for sick birds and scanning the ocean floor for any which have died.

Half one million seabirds nest at Bempton Cliffs nature reserve, on the Yorkshire coast. So many gannets collect right here that it’s internationally necessary for the species.

But in essentially the most crowded sections of the colony 80% of gannet chicks died final 12 months.

Dave O’Hara, the RSPB’s senior website supervisor, stated they nearly actually starved.

“We presume that’s because one or both of the adults had died,” he stated.

“Things which are killing adult birds are of a particular concern because they only have one chick a year. So it could take a long time [for the population] to recover.

“This 12 months, there’s numerous fear about what’s coming.”

The H5N1 virus was first detected in 1996 and until two years ago was generally causing small outbreaks at certain times of year in domestic poultry, and migrating ducks and geese.

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But a new variant called 2.3.4.4b has swept the globe. It is now widespread in wild birds and no longer just causes a seasonal disease.

It has also begun crossing species to infect mammals, including foxes, seals and dolphins in the UK. All are most likely to have died as a result of scavenging birds with the virus.

There’s no evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission in the UK, though it has happened at a mink farm in Spain and possibly in sea lions in South America.

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But the APHA is closely watching a mutation called E627K, which has been identified in eight out of 10 samples taken from UK mammals, and seems to increase the virulence and ability for airborne transmission.

“What we’re monitoring are some adjustments within the virus which can be hardly ever noticed in hen populations,” said Prof Brown.

“They’re more likely to sign that the virus is making some adjustment. But one adjustment alone won’t be sufficient for that virus to then efficiently transmit from one mammal to a different.

“A numbers game is a factor. The more exposures you get, the more risk that these events might spark and trigger something that can then transmit, which is why we’re doing the surveillance.”

There have been seven instances of the brand new pressure in folks working intently with birds, together with one within the UK. All these within the US or Europe had gentle or no signs.

The UK Health Protection Agency says the danger to most people is low and there was no human-to-human unfold.

But it warns folks mustn’t contact useless or sick birds, and may wash their palms after feeding birds.