<
https://theconversation.com/the-next-pandemic-its-already-here-for-earths-wildlife-222306>
"I am a conservation biologist who studies emerging infectious diseases. When
people ask me what I think the next pandemic will be I often say that we are in
the midst of one – it’s just afflicting a great many species more than ours.
I am referring to the highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza H5N1 (HPAI
H5N1), otherwise known as bird flu, which has killed millions of birds and
unknown numbers of mammals, particularly during the past three years.
This is the strain that emerged in domestic geese in China in 1997 and quickly
jumped to humans in south-east Asia with a mortality rate of around 40-50%. My
research group encountered the virus when it killed a mammal, an endangered
Owston’s palm civet, in a captive breeding programme in Cuc Phuong National
Park Vietnam in 2005.
How these animals caught bird flu was never confirmed. Their diet is mainly
earthworms, so they had not been infected by eating diseased poultry like many
captive tigers in the region.
This discovery prompted us to collate all confirmed reports of fatal infection
with bird flu to assess just how broad a threat to wildlife this virus might
pose.
This is how a newly discovered virus in Chinese poultry came to threaten so
much of the world’s biodiversity."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
