Avian flu has reached Antarctica, a potential disaster for penguins

Birds – This is the first, and it is potentially catastrophic. The H5N1 virus was found late last week in two dead birds called skuas near Argentina’s scientific research station Primavera Base on the Antarctic Peninsula. There is enough to worry about the development of avian flu on the ice continent.

Other suspected cases have been reported in brown skua, Antarctic skua and gulls on the Antarctic Peninsula, the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research clarifies. According to a Spanish government report, this comes first even though the region has “a natural barrier and a long distance separating it from other continents”.

As a reminder, this H5N1 pandemic has killed millions of wild birds worldwide since 2021. All continents except Oceania are affected. Avian flu reached the sub-Antarctic islands last October. Specifically, the virus was first detected in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, about 1,600 km from the Antarctic continent. It has also been found in the Falkland Islands, located several hundred kilometers northwest of South Georgia.

A virus that migrates and spreads

Initially, the victims carrying H5N1 were birds such as gulls, skuas and terns. Later, researchers found it in albatrosses, penguins, and southern fulmars (a bird species that looks a bit like a gull). Mammals have also been affected. Researchers have observed mass die-offs of elephant seals and fur seals. So no one is safe.

But does this mean bird flu is already spreading in Antarctica? Hard to say, explains Matthew Dryden of the United Kingdom Health Security Agency for The Guardian: “It may not have been reported from the Antarctic continent until now due to difficulties in accessing and sampling wildlife. »

Is the penguin population in danger?

For researchers, the main risk is that the virus will spread to local penguin colonies. For researcher Antonio Alcemi of the Centro de Biologia Molecular Severo Ochoa CSIC (who studied dead skuas carrying the virus), the risk of infection should not be underestimated. “It worries me to think that this might spread to penguins. Skuas live in close proximity, so there are many possibilities for transmission. »

Especially since this isn’t the first time penguins have had to deal with a virus. The epidemic has already affected penguin populations in South Africa, Argentina and Chile. Since the arrival of the virus in the South American continent, at least half a million seabirds have died from the disease, and penguins were among the species most affected.

Last November, researchers investigated the discovery and development of the virus in Antarctica. This is the conclusion of their report “If the virus begins to cause mass die-offs in penguin colonies, it could signal one of the greatest ecological disasters of modern times”. And man cannot do anything about it, because there is currently no remedy in nature to prevent such epidemics.
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