Bird flu has arrived in Antarctica: They warn species like penguins are in grave danger

According to scientists, a Deadly bird flu virus in Antarcticaraising concerns about the risk of mass die-offs for the continent’s vast penguin colonies and other animals found nowhere else on Earth.

According to the Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), on February 24, researchers confirmed the presence of H5 subtype avian influenza in two dead seabirds (skuas) near the Argentine scientific research base and station on the Antarctic Peninsula. ).

“This discovery shows for the first time that highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have arrived in Antarctica despite its distance and natural barriers from other continents,” officials said.

In recent years, the highly contagious disease has devastated wild and domestic animal populations and traveled across the planet along bird migration routes. Now, the arrival of bird flu in the southernmost continent threatens its unique fauna, including its iconic penguins.

The virus proved potent enough to spread from birds to mammals, attacking elephant seals and other marine mammals that congregated ashore. It has reached all continents except Australia.

“We have never seen such large-scale transmission of a virus in wild birds, and we have never seen such large-scale infection in wild mammals.”Ron Fauchier, a virologist at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, said last month.

The global outbreak has come with a high economic cost for farms, as the virus has killed millions of chickens and other poultry. In the wild, the disease could disrupt ecosystems and drive threatened birds to the brink of extinction.

Antarctic penguins may not have much immunity to the disease, because so far the virus’s presence on the African continent has not been documented. Outbreaks in penguins in South America and Africa illustrate their vulnerability. These birds like to walk together in groups but are not very good at maintaining social distance.

Many Antarctic penguins are already at risk of extinction as rising temperatures deplete the sea ice they need to feed, breed and protect themselves. In 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the continent’s emperor penguins to be endangered due to climate change.

CSIC said scientists took “maximum safety measures to avoid transmission of the virus to humans” by taking samples from two dead skuas and sending them by boat to the Spanish base on Decepcion Island Perform analysis.

Bird flu has been spreading across the continent for months. Other suspected cases of bird flu have emerged in Antarctica in recent weeks, according to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research. For many scientists, its arrival is inevitable.

In October 2023, British scientists discovered the virus in brown skuas on Bird Island in the British territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, about 1,000 kilometers from Antarctica. In January 2024, researchers first discovered influenza in gentoo penguins in the Falkland Islands off the coast of Argentina. A further 35 penguins were found dead or showing flu symptoms.

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