Highly pathogenic avian influenza believed to be killing seals in Quebec
,” the research group said in a statement on Tuesday. “Avian influenza was quickly suspected of playing a role in the increasing mortality.”
He said the seals most likely were in contact with carcasses of infected eider ducks when they came ashore to give birth at the beginning of the summer. Jean-François Gosselin, a biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said these are the first reported cases of the virus being passed from wild birds to marine mammals in Quebec. The first H5N1 flu cases are believed to have arrived in North America at the end of winter, involving birds that migrated from Europe.“It’s already difficult to count the number of seals that are alive … carcasses that are beached, or floating between rocks, is even harder,” Gosselin said.
“It’s normal with an exotic virus … it’s a new virus that enters a new population that was never infected,” Lair said. “The mortality rate will be way higher than if the virus was already circulating naturally.”
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