It was earlier this month that the white bird with yellow-orange head feathers was discovered right outside the house of the Bludd family in Ersfjordbotn on Kvaløya in Tromsø. It had a strange behavior. Went very slowly. Didn’t fly. Tuck your head under the wing. Ellen Kathrine Bludd notified the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. It did not have the opportunity to come and examine the sick bird, but asked to be contacted again if the bird was found dead. It did, just under a week later. Then it lay dead in the grass down towards the shore. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority then came and took a sample of the dead sole, which was then given a dignified burial by the Bludd family. Death from the disease As feared, bird flu was the cause of the gannet’s death. According to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, this gannet was just one of many seabirds that have been found sick or dead along the coast this summer. From Troms and Svalbard, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has received 42 reports of findings. – Of this, we have taken samples from 14 birds, and six of these tested positive, says section manager for the Food Safety Authority in Troms and Svalbard, Hilde Haug. The gannet in Ersfjordbotn had clearly come ashore because it had become ill with influenza. Photo: Jeremy Bludd There are sea eagles, seagulls and gannets that have tested positive for the virus in the region, but different birds all over the country have been diagnosed with the disease.’ – It is very serious for the bird, because the sick birds will in the vast majority of cases die, explains Haug. It is the first time bird flu has been detected in the whole of Norway at the same time, and for the first time bird flu has been detected in Svalbard. Gate ban in Rogaland – When wild birds are infected, there is not much we can do, says Haug. She explains that it mostly depends on the extent of infection among the wild birds. At the same time, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s most important agenda is to protect domestic fowl. So far, it is only in Rogaland that they have seen it necessary to introduce measures to protect birds in captivity. So far, 17 municipalities in the county have had curfews and other measures introduced by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. – There they have also found themselves having to clean up some chicken colonies, says Haug. Sanitation means that the herd is emptied of animals and disinfected. FACTS: Bird flu Bird flu is a contagious viral disease in birds, which can lead to a mortality rate of up to 100 per cent in poultry flocks. The disease is caused by an influenza A virus. Different variants of the bird flu virus lead to illness of varying severity. The severe form of the disease is termed highly pathogenic (highly pathogenic) bird flu. There are also variants of bird flu that are not disease-causing, or only cause mild respiratory symptoms when they infect poultry. Bird flu is transmitted by droplet transmission from the upper respiratory tract, and through faeces or dust from faeces that is picked up through the beak or breathed in. Faeces from one infected bird can infect many thousands of poultry. Bird flu is very rarely transmitted from birds to humans. Those who have been infected have, as far as is known, been in very close contact with sick or dead birds. There are no examples of the disease being transmitted to humans via food or drinking water. (Source: Norwegian Food Safety Authority)
ttn-69
Many tens of seabirds died of bird flu this summer – news Troms and Finnmark
