Avian influenza continues to spread worldwide. 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis scientists are helping to monitor its expansion among wildlife, poultry and other species.
Wildlife and avian flu
In early April, , director of the Latin America Program at the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, addressed the current state of avian flu at a webinar hosted by the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Grand Challenges鈥 .
鈥淚t is causing a totally unprecedented scale of global spread and mortality,鈥 said Uhart on the newest strain. 鈥淲e have never seen anything like this before. It鈥檚 killing hundreds of thousands of birds, and tens of thousands of mammals.鈥
Uhart is especially worried about new strains and virus movement into new species. Currently, the largest scales of mortality have been documented in seabirds, waterfowl, and mammals like elephant seals. A few human cases have also been documented, along with cases in domestic pets and livestock.
Uhart has documented cases in the wild from the beaches of Argentina to Antarctica, and continues to track the impacts on affected ecosystems.
鈥淔or those of us who have been on the beaches these last couple of years, you experience the silence鈥搕hese animals are just not there."
鈥淔or those of us who have been on the beaches these last couple of years, you experience the silence鈥撯搕hese animals are just not there,鈥 Uhart said. 鈥 Maybe over time they鈥檒l come back, but we just don鈥檛 know what the consequences are. In the conservation world, we鈥檙e bringing this message that we need to be more alert and monitor what the impacts are in the near future.鈥
The spread to poultry
Cases of avian influenza have jumped from wild birds to commercial and backyard poultry farms across the United States and Canada.
, associate professor in Cooperative Extension at the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and with University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, have developed an showing its spread from November 2021 to present day, with red dots representing wild bird cases, purple representing commercial poultry, and gray representing backyard poultry.
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Media Experts on Avian Influenza
新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis experts on poultry, biosecurity, virology and more.
Media Resources
- Kat Kerlin, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis News and Media Relations, 530-750-9195, kekerlin@ucdavis.edu
- Amy Quinton, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis News and Media Relations, 530-752-9843, amquinton@ucdavis.edu
Malia Reiss is a science news intern with 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Strategic Communications. She studies environmental science and management at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis.