ABSTRACT
We report a massive mortality of more than 3,000 sea lions (Otaria flavescens) of Peru associated with a Highly Pathogenic Influenza Virus (H5N1). The transmission pathway of H5N1 may have been through the close contact of sea lions with infected wild birds. We cannot rule out direct transmission among sea lions.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
We updated slightly the title, the content and structure of the manuscript. We updated sea lion mortality, co-author data and affiliations and also clarified the contributions of the institutions that participated in this work. Figures 1 and 2 updated with new information and merged into one figure. Table updated with new data.
Copyright
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Posted March 03, 2023.
Mass Mortality of Marine Mammals Associated to Highly Pathogenic Influenza Virus (H5N1) in South America
