the mass death of dolphins and pelicans on beaches of the North of Peru represents a risk to human health by the probable mutation of a virus that has caused such carnage and that could affect people, he felt this Wednesday the NGO World blue.

“the presence of the remains of these cetaceans and birds on the coast is potentially dangerous and a risk to human health because it is a source of possible infections”, told AFP the German biologist Stefan Austermühle, director of world blue.

more than 1,500 birds, pelicans and boobies, died of unknown causes in the last twelve days over 160 km of beaches in the departments of Piura, border with Ecuador, and Lambayeque, 790 km north of Lima, reported a statement from the Ministry of agriculture.

in mid-April the Ministry of the environment reported the death of 877 dolphins since the beginning of January from causes that are investigated in the same area.

Austermuhle He questioned that not taken measures, such as the incineration of bodies scattered on the beaches Northern. “the remains are stranded and that exposes people to probable infections”.

“those remains have to be collected by staff equipped with gloves and masks,” he said, referring to photographs in the press that show people picking up samples of dead animals without the proper protection, for subjecting them to analysis.

in the North of the country health authorities recommended Wednesday avoid consumption of fish as a precaution before the death of dolphins and pelicans.

“As preventive measure we recommend that raw fish not eaten for at least 72 hours to see what problem are,” said the radio station RPP Henry Rebaza, director of health in the region La Libertad, 570 km north of Lima.

without However, Edward Barriga, staff member of the Institute of the sea of the Peru, told AFP that that recommendation “is creating a totally unnecessary alarm that can cause heavy economic damage to the North coast of the Peru”.

preliminary Ministry of environment reports indicate that the cause of the death of the animals would be the presence of the virus Morbillivirus.

belly noted that it is difficult that there is contagion of dolphins to birds and that you can pass to humans, unless there is a mutation.

in this regard, Austermuhle did not rule out that the dreaded mutation will occur and gave as an example what happened with influenza avian in Asia that bird happened to humans.

biologist explained that the Morbillivirus affects only cetaceans, by what felt that is likely that another virus that affects birds.

the Noordelijke autoriteiten besteld dat sinds deze woensdag de overblijfselen worden begraven één meter diepte te voorkomen gezondheid gevaren.

een dolfijn stierf op de Noord kust van Peru, in de buurt van Chiclayo, 750 km ten noorden van Lima, in April 2012. De massale dood van dolfijnen en Pelikanen op stranden van het noorden van Peru vertegenwoordigt een risico voor de menselijke gezondheid door de waarschijnlijke mutatie van een virus dat heeft geleid tot dergelijke slachting en die van invloed kunnen zijn op mensen, hij voelde deze woensdag de NGO-wereld blauwe.