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Bird flu virus has been registered in several species in Antarctica.
Since 2021, the H5N1 2.3.4.4b strain has decimated wild bird and mammal populations around the world, spreading rapidly from Europe to North America and on to South America. Now scientists have found out that it seeps to Antarctica, probably transported by migratory birds.
Researchers have long feared that this moment would come. Species that live here, such as penguins and albatrosses, may face threats to their survival.
"Antarctica and sub-Antarctic islands have unique ecosystems that support clustering of populations of several species of birds and marine mammals. Disease outbreaks with high mortality therefore pose a significant threat to already vulnerable seabird populations," write the authors of a recent paper based on data from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
It all started on September 17, 2023, when BAS researchers working in the South Georgia Islands, about halfway between Argentina and Antarctica, spotted a giant petrel twitching as it struggled to move. When the bird died, its corpse was eaten by brown skunks. On October 8, they also began to twitch. And two days later, scientists registered the most massive death among birds that do not nest on the islands.
In early December, scientists noticed individuals coughing and breathing in short bursts in colonies of southern elephant seals and Antarctic fur seals. From October 8 to December 9, scientists discovered 33 bird carcasses and 17 mammal carcasses in eight different locations around the South Georgia Islands. Approximately 66% tested positive for HPAIV H5N1.
In the nearby Falkland Islands, which are located closer to Argentina in the sub-Antarctic region, the virus has been detected in two other bird species, including black-browed albatrosses and southern petrels.
Officially, the virus has not yet reached the Antarctic mainland, but some researchers working in the western peninsula believe that the animal pandemic has already reached this remote continent.
In March 2024, an international panel of scientists submitted for peer review a study on suspected cases of H5N1 in Adélie penguins and Antarctic cormorants "at the southernmost latitude currently in Antarctica." Between December 2023 and January 2024, the team found the virus at two breeding sites on the Antarctic Peninsula and on the west coast of Antarctica.
If these findings are confirmed, Australia will remain the only continent untouched by the virus.
