Scientists have so far confirmed 14 avian flu cases among Antarctica’s gentoo penguins. The deadly virus, first detected on the continent in October 2023, has decimated bird and mammal populations in recent months.
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A deadly type of avian flu has begun spreading among Antarctic penguins for the first time, just four months after the virus was first detected on the continent.
According to Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research’s (SCAR) data, 14 out of 35 cases of H5N1 avian influenza virus among gentoo penguins have so far been confirmed via PCR test, though Reuters on Wednesday reported that the government of the Falkland Islands, a subantarctic region off the southern tip of Argentina, has identified “over 200 dead chicks alongside a handful of adults” and was awaiting test results from rockhopper penguins as it prepared “for a large-scale outbreak.”
Ralph Vanstreels, a veterinarian working with SCAR, told Reuters that is is “unlikely” that gentoo penguins – which are native to sub-Antarctic islands – will spread the deadly virus to the southern continent, as these animals very rarely travel between the Falklands and the Antarctic Peninsula, located at about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) to the south.
Vanstreels’ theory was challenged by two animal health groups, which in an update issued on December 22, 2023, warned of further avian flu spread in the Antarctica region and said there is a “moderate likelihood” that the virus will reach Oceania – the only region in the world yet to detect any cases of the H5N1 clade.
Migratory birds are believed to be the main vector of the deadly strain of avian influenza – or bird flu – that has spread out rapidly across the northern hemisphere in the past two years.
Since January 2022, over 11,400 bird outbreaks – defined as “an occurrence of one or more cases in a group of animals with a defined epidemiologic relationship” – were identified across 84 member countries of the World Organisation for Animal Health, with France reporting the highest number. In the US alone between January 2022 and December 27, 2023, the virus was detected in more than 8,500 wild birds in 50 states or territories and more than 1,000 commercial and backyard flocks, affecting nearly 80 million birds.
Unfortunately, it is not just birds that have been subjected to this virus.
This strain, dubbed a “spillover event,” has affected many mammals including otters, farmed foxes and minks, domesticated cats and dogs, and sea lions – with 300 outbreaks globally recorded between May 2022 and December 27, 2023, and even humans – with 19 sporadic cases reported from eight countries in the same timeframe, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While the high mortality rate of avian influenza is hugely alarming, the new strain of H5N1 has been classified as “low risk” as the genetic modification it would require to move between humans is quite substantial. Reassuringly, H5N1 has been around since 1996 and this specific genetic mutation has not yet happened.
Featured image: South Georgia, South Atlantic Ocean. Photo by Edwin Lee (November 2023)
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