The plight and role of wild birds in the current bird flu panzootic

Although the reported scale of poultry mortality due to HPAI H5N1 2.3.4.4b is probably aligned to reality, the 75,106 wild bird casualties reported in WAHIS are not. WAHIS is the most comprehensive and only global source of information pertaining to poultry and wild bird case numbers. However, despite these data being used for response planning, the collation of case data are not within its design. As such, case data reporting is inconsistent and it may include all observed carcasses, only those tested and confirmed, or no information on numbers at all. For instance, the outbreaks comprising 24,463 Cape cormorants (Phalacrocorax capensis) in South Africa and 9,029 common cranes (Grus grus) in Israel appear to be reported in full. More widespread is the reporting of only fractions of cases compared to what is stated in the media2 or in publications. For example, in the WAHIS database there are 35 HPAI notifications since 1 October 2021 for Sandwich terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) that involve 61 individuals globally. This contrasts sharply with reports of more than 20,000 Sandwich tern carcasses in Europe3. Similarly, 47 dead great skuas (Stercorarius skua) have been reported to

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