It was Inger Pedersen who notified Brønnøysunds Avis that she had found seven or eight dead seagulls close to her home between Nes and Kirkøy. Samples now show that the birds had bird flu, writes Brønnøysunds Avis. Since then, three others have reported the discovery. Findings have also been reported from other municipalities in southern Helgeland.

The exact subgroup to which the virus in Vega belongs is not known. - Influenza has been detected in the bird that was sampled on 7 July. We don't know which subgroup it belongs to, but it's H5. There may not have been enough virus in the sample to determine this," says Grim Rømo to Brønnøysunds Avis. He is responsible for poultry at the Veterinary Institute.

The Vegaøyan World Heritage Foundation has previously had contact with the the birdtenders out in the World Heritage area. They had not seen any dead birds, other than a dead eider in Bremstein . In Lånan is the birdtenders still present, but they haven't found any dead birds there either.

All suspected cases of avian influenza in animals must be reported to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. If a local veterinarian is notified, the veterinarian is responsible for notifying the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

Large outbreak

In Finnmark, there is a major outbreak and a large number of dead birds. On Monday, 1,000 dead seagulls were recovered from Storelva in Vadsø alone, according to NRK. There is no overview of how many dead birds there are in total.

The outbreak is not only in Finnmark, but also further south in Europe. "This is critical for seabirds, especially the red-listed and declining kittiwake. "This outbreak is severely affecting the population, and we must try to limit the infection as much as possible," says Rømo to Brønnøysunds Avis.

He goes on to say that bird flu has been detected along the entire Norwegian coast from Karmøy in the south to the coast of Finnmark, and even in Svalbard. Several dead kittiwakes have also been found in Rørvik this week, and samples are being taken from them.

Be careful

The NIPH writes on its website that among avian influenza viruses, which are rarely detected in humans, it is viruses of the H5 and H7 subtypes that have attracted the most attention. Both viruses that are low pathogenic and highly pathogenic in chickens can, in rare cases, infect humans and cause serious illness. The first time infection from birds to humans was detected was in Hong Kong in 1997.

- Can you manage to limit the infection?

- "It's not that simple, but you can take some measures. What we are saying is that those who have had contact with dead birds should not enter other bird colonies. In consultation with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, dead birds should be collected and destroyed as they pose a risk of infection to other birds and mammals that feed on the carcasses," says Rømo.

- "It's important to maintain infection control measures and ensure that you don't bring infection into your own poultry house. Poultry farmers must be aware of production changes," says Grim Rømo.