Mysterious Disease Snatching the Eyesight of Birds
A mysterious disease is killing birds in the eastern region of America. Scientists have not been able to detect this disease so far. However, he fears that the way birds like starlings, blue jays, grackles are dying could be a sign of a bird epidemic. Usually, such deaths occur in birds due to infection with Salmonella and Chlamydia bacteria, but scientists believe that this time these bacteria are not the cause of death.
Cases of bird deaths from this disease were reported two months ago in Virginia, Washington, and Maryland. But now it has spread to Kentucky, Delaware, and Wisconsin. The postmortem of the birds killed by this strange disease is being done at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Lisa Murphy of the Department of Toxicology here says that the cause of death has not been known in the investigations done so far.
The connection of death to the brains of birds
Chelsea Jones, the spokeswoman for the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, says, 'The disease was reported in May. When we examined the dead birds, it was found that a white crust was deposited on the back of their eyelids. Because of this, he had lost his eyesight. Many birds were unable to decide the direction, they were getting confused. He was unable to fly due to fatigue. It is clear from this that such a disease is bothering him, which is related to the brain. That is, this problem is neurological.
Survey of the most affected areas is being done
Chelsea says that she has so far cremated 300 such birds. It is feared that many times more birds have died due to this. The dead birds have been sent to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources for examination. This institute is doing this with the team of Geological Survey. From this, it will be known in which parts of America the infection of this disease has spread.
Advice to people to stay away from birds
The US health agency CDC has denied blaming avian influenza, West Nile, herpes, pox-like viruses, or yellow fever for the birds' deaths. After the loss of eyesight of many birds, they were tested for Newcastle disease virus, but its report came negative. This investigation was also done because the same virus is responsible for conjunctivitis in birds.
Officials of the US Geological Survey say that wherever such mysterious deaths are taking place, people must follow social distancing. The disease has not been detected yet, so it has been advised to stay away from birds.
