Bird flu virus detected off the coast of Antarctica – 10/24/2023 – Environment

The main bird flu virus has been detected for the first time off the coast of Antarctica, British researchers announced. This discovery represents a new risk for some endemic species, such as penguins.

The presence of the HPAI virus has been confirmed among Antarctic crabs (Stercorarius antarcticus) subantarctic, a family of seabirds, according to a statement published this Monday (23) by BAS (British Antarctic Survey), an organization that includes British researchers working in the region.

The planet is experiencing the worst bird flu epidemic in history, and many experts feared that, sooner or later, it would reach the Antarctic continent.

British scientists collected samples from Antarctic mandrels found dead in the South Georgia Islands, offshore, east of the southern tip of South America, but not strictly inland from the Antarctic continent.

Scientists believe the virus was carried by some birds in South America, a region that has been hit hard in recent years by bird flu, with tens of millions of farmed birds condemned to sacrifice.

The presence of the virus in Antarctica is “dramatic news”, said Michelle Wille, an expert on bird flu at the University of Melbourne, on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

Scientists fear that the virus will eventually reach the icy continent, threatening some varieties of penguins that do not live elsewhere and therefore have never developed immunity against this pathogen.

In southern Brazil, at least 164 wolves and sea lions were found dead due to bird flu, according to a statement last Friday (20).

The carcasses were found in recent days in Santa Vitória do Palmar (RS), along 45 km of the coast. The site is around 20 km from the border with Uruguay, where the death of around 400 wolves and sea lions was recently reported, also attributed to bird flu.