The investigation, conducted by an international team of scientists, with the participation of CSIC, identified: 14 new cases of bird flu in animals in Antarctica.
New cases were detected in Penguins, sea wolves, pigeons in Antarctica And some birds are called Chilean parasites, which has been confirmed to be infected with bird flu virus HPAI H5N1 is a highly pathogenic virus..
According to scientists, this indicates that the spread of the virus in the southern region is wider than they expected, and poses a serious threat to the conservation of wildlife in the region.
The findings were announced at the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), the world’s largest conference on Antarctic science, which is being held in Chile until August 23.
And the viròleg Antonio Alcamí, who CSIC team leadsHe explained the results they obtained with the 14 samples they studied and two other cases identified by the Chilean and British teams:
“These results suggest that the virus has already spread to many animal species and is likely to cause high mortality in the coming Australian summer, particularly in penguins, with devastating impact.”
In January, an unusual outbreak of bird flu in mammals was already detected in elephant seals on South Georgia Island, off Antarctica, and scientists warned that it could spread to large groups of mammals and birds in the region.
Virus found in Antarctica north of Weddell Sea It was revealed in February. By a team of researchers from the Severo Ochoa Center for Molecular Biology in Madrid who were part of the expedition. Australis.
In July, they also confirmed the first case in mammals in the region, specifically in an elephant seal.
❄️Spanish researchers have found a highly pathogenic bird flu virus in a marine mammal for the first time in Antarctica.
✅This discovery was made by the Severo Ochoa Center for Molecular Biology (@CSIC) in the project @mncn_csic.
👉https://t.co/HGbh3rIATT pic.twitter.com/7Vtr5vP39u
— Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (@CienciaGob) July 14, 2024
Last March, a CSIC team led by Antonio Alcami and Angela Vázquez organized an expedition on board the ship. Hesperides Organic To collect samples from different islands of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, where Spain has two scientific bases, to detect the possible presence of avian influenza in the area.
Samples obtained on this expedition were later analyzed in state laboratories, where the virus was detected in the carcass of a sea elephant that died on the Coppermine Peninsula on Rupert Island.
Months of doubt
Scientists first suspected bird flu in the area in October last year after large numbers of elephant seals and several seabirds died.
The UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) director of scientific services, Ian Brown, has already warned of the danger this poses:
“Given that Antarctica is a unique and special area of biodiversity, it is sad and worrying to see the disease spreading to mammals in the region.”
It will be distributed to the north.
Last April, scientists discovered More than 500 penguin corpses in Adelaideon the Antarctic island of Heroina in the Weddell Sea, which probably died of avian influenza. On this island, samples of the virus have already been detected in two Chilean parasitoids, three Antarctic pigeons, and a sea wolf.
The virus has also affected penguins on Paulet, Beagle and Devil Islands, according to Alkame. However, in the latter case, the virus would not be caused by an outbreak of HPAI H5N1, but of a lower pathogenicity.
“These results completely change what we know about avian influenza in Antarctica. The virus has penetrated deeper into the area we visited with the Australis expedition, in the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula, where it has caused significant mortality in some penguin colonies. In particular, on Heroina Island, a hotspot where all animal species have been affected.”
The H5 subtype of avian influenza initially evolved in poultry, but since 2020 has adapted to spread among wildlife. Its spread has caused significant mortality in birds and wild mammals almost worldwide.
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