In addition, the case of a dolphin is currently under investigation. The carcass of the marine mammal was found on the shore near Rimouski in the past few weeks.
A first test PCR on this white-sided dolphin was positive, says the director of the Quebec Center for the Health of Wild Animals, Stéphane Lair.
Confirmation from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is pending.
About 15 seals have also contracted the virus this summer, according to Mr Lair.
Three avian flu positive bears
In addition, a bear and her two cubs had to be euthanized in Gaspé last spring because they all three contracted bird flu, argues Forillon National Park resource conservation manager Mathieu Côté.
When we performed this operation we did not know what the female was suffering from, but we did know that we had many cases of bird flu in the park at the time.
says Mr Côté.
” Many seabirds were found on our shores and the female stood in an area by the sea. […] We also had carcasses that had been eaten, but we couldn’t say it was this bear that ate them. »
An autopsy confirmed that bird flu was the cause of the bear and her cubs’ health problems. It would also be the first black bear infection in the country, according to Mr Côté.
Human health concerns?
Physician and epidemiologist at Quebec’s National Institute of Public Health, Gaston De Serre, says one shouldn’t worry about transmission of bird flu to humans.
The first case of H3N8 bird flu has been detected in humans, but health officials say the risk of human-to-human transmission is low.
according to dr De Serre could mutate the virus and infect humans more easily if cases in other mammalian species increased.
With information from Jean-Philippe Guilbeault
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