Blackbird -deaths point to threatening West Nile -Viru threat in UK

A deadly virus kills black birds all over the UK. In addition to the risk of the birds, its spread indicates that mosquito-boy viruses now pose a growing threat to humans and animals in the country, partly as a result of climate change.

The virus in question, Usutu, original in South Africa in 1959, but is now widespread in Europe. It causes deadly disease in certain bird species, especially black birds, and was first in the UK in 2020. In some parts of the country, most noted London, the Blackbird population has fallen by more than 40 per year. Childer 2018. “We only notice the fall at the same time that Usutu emerged,” says Hugh Hanmer at British confidence in ornithology.

Although it is devastating to bird life, Usutu poses a low risk to humans and mammals. Infections in humans are rare and generally cause only a mild fever, but the arrival of the virus in Britain first marked that a mosquito boy viral zoonosis — a ditase that can be transferred from an animal to a human hatred appeared in the animal. Virus experts keep an eye on how far and fast the disease spreads because it may be a template for the future spread of other mosquito diseases.

For example, West Nile -virus spreads in the same way as usutu and requires the same environmental conditions. “The same mosquitoes that can transfer usutu can typically transmit West Nile, and the same birds that act as hosts [for Usutu] Can also act as hosts of West Nile, ”says Arran Folly at the UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

People can also be infected by West Nile virus from a mosquito bit, but its symptoms can be more severe than for usutu. About 20 per Hundreds of the infected will experience symptoms that include fever, headaches, bodysuit, vomiting and diarrhea. In rare cabins, the virus can cause severe inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, which can be fatal. There is no known human vaccine.

Climate change has helped speed up the spread of West Nile -virus through North and Eastern Europe, Research showsAs the virus thrives in hot summer temperatures. In the Netherlands, Usutu was first detained in 2016, and West Nile virus followed in 2020. UK -Employees fear that a similar pattern will play out in their country with Demonstrates studies That the climate that is becoming more and more hospitable for mosquito horns viruses. “The idea is that if we have usutu here, West Nile is likely to come at some point and likely to persist, considering the right conditions,” says Folly.

In responsible for the threat, APHA launched a project in 2023 to track the emergence and transmission paths for usutu and other mosquito viruses in wild birds. This virus -tracking infrastructure Will be crucial if the country is to respond quickly to West Nile’s arrival, says Folly. “Our real goals or drives from a state point of view is to be able to discover these [new viruses] circulates in animal populations before we get transmission to humans.

Reina Sikkema at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam has studied the emergence of Usutu and West Nile virus in the Netherlands. Although West Nile has not been detained since 2022, pHe believes the virus is circulating at a low level, is currently being kept in control by the country’s relatively cool climate. “I think it’s present, but it needs the right circumstances to flare up,” she says. A British detection of West Nile is now anything but inevitable, says Sikkema, but she believes that similar climatic factors can prevent the virus from spreading too far at the moment.

But increasing summer temperatures, including the increasing frequency of tropical nights – such as Britain’s Met Office Weather Agency defines, as when minimum stamps do not fall below 20 ° C – can change the image in the UK, the Netherlands and other nations in the coming years, warns warn. Sikkema. “Mosquito -borne disease is not [just] On your Spanish vacation or when you go to South America, ”says Folly.

In addition to the potential risk of West Nile -virus to humans, foolishness says we shortsDon’t forget what Usutu is doing with Britain’s black birds: “If 40 per Hundreds of people fell dead in Greater London, you would know quite quickly. “