Скачать или смотреть How bird flu ruined my holiday

CONTENT WARNING: some slightly graphic images of dead sea lions in this video.

I just got back from a four-week holiday in South America, and at one point we accidentally stumbled across what could be the start of the next pandemic.

We were shocked to see dead sea lions washed up all over the beach, killed by the new strain of H5N1 avian influenza that’s going around. A few days later, we came across a WHO article about a man who’d ended up in intensive care after catching it:

‘The patient is a 53-year-old male from the Region of Antofagasta in the north of Chile. He had no history of comorbidities or recent travel. On 13 March 2023, he developed symptoms including cough, sore throat, and hoarseness. On 21 March, due to worsening symptoms, he sought care at a local hospital. He remains in respiratory isolation under multidisciplinary management, with mechanical ventilation due to pneumonia. According to preliminary findings of the epidemiological investigation of this human case, the most plausible route of transmission was through environmental exposure in areas close to the residence of the case where either sick or dead sea mammals or wild birds were found. Three close contacts of the case were asymptomatic and tested negative for influenza and have concluded the monitoring period.’
– https://www.who.int/emergencies/disea...

The fact that the virus didn’t transmit between people is great news—but the fact it’s moving back and forth between birds and mammals like sea lions, which are of course more closely related to us than our feathered friends, is cause for concern. There are probably more human cases that haven’t got bad enough to result in hospitalisation. And, if it picks up the wrong combination of mutations and learns to jump from human to human…well, let’s not think about that, right?

Still, it was morbidly and scientifically a bit fascinating to have unintentionally ended up at epidemiological ground zero and seen some wildlife-documentary-esque hungry vultures chewing carcasses. But a relaxing day or two at the beach? Ruined!


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And finally, thanks to Tran Nguyen (who you can see reflected in my sunglasses!) for taking time out of our holiday to film this. :)