DIXIE COUNTY, Fla. — A recent study confirmed a common bottlenose dolphin from Florida that died not long after it was found in distress was the first of its kind to have been infected by bird flu.
Researchers, however, do not know how, where or when the dolphin was infected by the "highly pathogenic" avian influenza virus, according to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine.
The college's Marine Animal Rescue made contact with the distressed dolphin in March 2022 in a Dixie County canal. The mammal later died, which, after several second opinions from multiple labs across state lines, led researchers to find out it had a case of the virus scientifically named HPAI, or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, researchers said.
The samples eventually made it to a lab in Memphis, where a former intern with UF’s aquatic animal medicine program worked closely with a World Health Organization researcher, who is known to find where several cases of avian influenza in animals came from.
After extensive research, both were unable to find the origin of the dolphin’s case of the virus.
“We still don’t know where the dolphin got the virus and more research needs to be done,” researcher Richard Webby, Ph.D., said in a statement.
Other mammal species like it have caught the virus — again under unknown circumstances that, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, may be able to infect other species.
The first case of a strain of HPAI was recorded in January 2022 and has since been confirmed in 35 counties in Florida, according to the commission.
Waterfowl migrating from Europe and Canada, as well as wild birds traveling down the Pacific Coast, might have been how the virus showed up in the U.S.
As for other known cases, a scientific journal says there has been an “explosive expansion” of the virus in animals in America for some time now. It is known to have infected and killed sea lions and species of seals in parts of North and South America.
Researchers have traced the virus back to birds like eagles, owls and vultures, but the relationship between birds like these and cetaceans, such as the bottlenose dolphin, has not been fully confirmed.
