[Animals] First case of avian influenza in a sea lion in Chile

[FNX Magokiler]

The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service reported on Thursday the first positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a common sea lion.

The case was detected in Antofagasta and confirmed by the Agricultural and Livestock Service: it corresponds to the variant of the virus that has already been detected in wild birds in 11 regions of the country and is also present in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay, among others.

"The SAG laboratory has officially notified us of the affectation of a marine mammal by bird flu. This specimen washed up sick on El Huáscar Beach in the Antofagasta Region. It is an adult male, weighing approximately 250 kilos, with problems respiratory diseases, for which the rigorous examinations were carried out, from whose analyzes it was possible to verify their positivity for avian influenza", explained the national director of Sernapesca, Soledad Tapia.

This is the first case of a marine mammal affected by the virus in Chile, "before which Sernapesca, the body responsible for hydrobiological fauna, will activate its special protocol for stranding marine animals," said the director, recalling that the SAG has already reinforced surveillance months ago, since positive cases of influenza were detected in wild birds in the northern hemisphere.

"This is part of a global problem. Both the United States and Peru had already registered sea lions affected by avian influenza. We also have a case of a penguin affected by this flu in Antofagasta, so we call on the public not to handle dead or alive stranded marine animals, do not feed them and keep distance and immediately inform Sernapesca through the line 800 320 032," said Tapia.

Since the beginning of the "HPAI Emergency" the virus has been detected in Chile in 21 species of wild aquatic birds, the pelican being the most affected.

 

 

PRECAUTIONS
This first case was also addressed by Víctor Neira, an academic in animal virology at the University of Chile, who in Cooperativa warned that it is a disease that "although we in South America have seen it mainly in wild birds and now a case recently appeared in Chile of a sea lion, is wreaking havoc of a high magnitude throughout the world.

"There are also these events of transmission towards mammals that concern us on the other hand, since it is about public health. Because eventually this virus could also start to adapt much more to mammals, we are mammals like human beings and we could also have something of risk", pointed out the expert.

Given this, Neira warned that "the main precaution today is to avoid coming into contact with suspicious animals, which are mainly birds, but now we are also adding marine mammals. In this case, avoid touching the animals."

"On the other hand, you also have to be very careful to inform the SA and Sernapesca that events are occurring, that there is strange behavior of the animals or that dead animals are found in coastal areas," he concluded.

 

https://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/pais/medioambiente/animales/primer-caso-de-influenza-aviar-en-un-lobo-marino-en-chile/2023-02-16/111639.html