Greenland Forum

Just a follow-up.

My son checked in on this with an epidemiologist at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) at Health and Human Services. He used to work with her. (Nothing exceeds like excess.)

She said, basically, not to worry. What H5N1 infection has been passed on to humans has been through highly significant viral load, much higher than we might get from surface water. She added that if we wanted to worry about viruses in the water, we would be better served worrying, as Kerri Parslow pointed out, about giardia and e.coli. Especially in lake water. But only if we needed something to worry about.

-- Dan

Thanks, John.

Yes, I've seen the CDC page. And I do wear mitts. But paddle without rolling? Is that even possible?

Glad you enjoyed the article.

-- Dan

Many thanks, Kerri.

I had not seen this article. (Though I had seen a few of the referenced studies.) Seems plausible, as long as one is aware of the environment, that paddling could be ok.

That said, there are disconcerting aspects: The virus is carried by, and shed by many less affected birds, seagulls, for instance, that are very prevalent; the water here is still quite cold which allows the virus to remain viable for longer. Also disturbing is that monitoring seems to be lacking. That's true both in terms of the author's recommending surface water sampling, and in understanding if we humans are actually carrying the virus with few or no symptoms. In fact, there seems to be only one laboratory in the state here that can isolate the H5N1 virus.

Still, the current risk seems pretty low compared with my simple desire to be on the water. You agree?

-- Dan

I had just been looking into this myself recently. This is an excerpt of a scientific "white paper" issued 6 months ago that looked at the potential for human exposure and transmission for recreation on beaches, including coastal watersports. Apparently the virus decays faster in salt water, but cold saline will allow it to live longer than warm. It doesn't appear that slight exposure to virus in water is a high risk.

"Most reported human cases of AIVs are mostly occupational transfers from poultry to humans in close contact with infected (live or dead) birds (Kniss et al., 2023). There are currently no reported cases of transfer from wild birds to humans.

H5N1 virus can survive in aquatic environments, such as beaches, aquatic sediments, and surface water, particularly under cold temperatures, low salinity, and neutral pH. While the fecal-oral route is the primary transmission method for AIV among birds, there is currently no evidence of direct transmission to humans via ingestion of contaminated water. The risk of ingestion route of infection is likely low, as the virus spreads more through aerial and respiratory routes. The risk of virus dissemination to beach users and other humans can be reduced by avoiding direct contact with infected body fluids (such as mucus and excreta) of infected and deceased birds."

link to full paper on Elsevier:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724038397

I'm cautious enough about giardia and e.coli that I carry disinfectant wipes to clean my hands before eating when I'm paddling local rivers and lakes and will probably add that to my routine for coastal paddling now. But it appears transmission is more respiratory or ingestion of contaminated material so it doesn't seem like paddling is much of a risk at this point.

There are a lot of very smart and well-educated people in QUSA. I was hoping they might weigh in on a question I have.

We've been hit hard by bird flu, H5N1, here in Plymouth. There were well over 100 dead birds hauled away by local and State authorities in January. And there have been between 20 and 50 bird carcasses removed each week since then.

These are mostly aquatic species; geese, ducks, and swans. They have been from lakes in the area as well as along the coast.

It occured to me this morning as I was gearing up, that paddling might not be such a good idea. One assumes that water birds shed the virus into the water in a variety of ways.

Relatively few people have contracted the virus. But the health authorities suggest that one should avoid getting the virus in you eyes, mouth, or nose. Hard to avoid that when paddling. I've read also that the virus can be present in water for as long as 20 days in cold water (water temps are in the upper 30s here these days) to months in warmer water.

So, I didn't paddle today.

Is this an overabundance of caution? We do get a reasonable tidal flush here: eight to ten feet. The water is hardly stagnant. But we also have an abundance of birds, with more coming in every day, especially this time of year.

What do you think?