Avian flu has made its chilling debut in Antarctica, sparking considerations for the susceptible populations of penguins and seals which have by no means encountered the lethal H5N1 virus earlier than. The arrival of the virus is shrouded in uncertainty, with scientists warning of potential “catastrophic breeding failure” among the many delicate wildlife populations within the area.
The virus was detected in brown skuas, a scavenging chook species, on Chicken Island, which kinds a part of the British abroad territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. These migratory birds possible introduced the virus with them from South America, the place chook flu has already claimed the lives of round 500,000 seabirds and 20,000 sea lions in Chile and Peru alone.
The present outbreak of the extremely contagious H5N1 variant, which originated in 2021, has already taken a devastating toll on tens of millions of untamed birds. Considerations have lengthy been raised concerning the potential impression on Antarctic wildlife, as many species are discovered completely on this distant area and have by no means been uncovered to avian flu viruses.
Chicken Island, located a number of hundred miles off the southeast coast of the Falkland Islands, is famend as one of many world’s most biodiverse hotspots. It’s house to roughly 50,000 breeding pairs of penguins and an astounding 65,000 pairs of fur seals. The island additionally gives a refuge for quite a few endangered chook species. The introduction of avian flu into this fragile ecosystem may result in “catastrophic breeding failure and mortality occasions,” warned Dr. Meagan Dewar, chair of the Antarctic Wildlife Well being Community.
The bizarre deaths of migratory brown skuas on Chicken Island prompted researchers from the British Antarctic Survey to gather swabs for testing within the UK. The outcomes confirmed the presence of H5N1 on this distant nook of Antarctica. It’s believed that the migratory birds introduced the avian flu with them from South America.
H5N1, a subtype of avian flu categorized as extremely pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), is infamous for its extreme impression and excessive mortality price amongst poultry populations. In Peru and Chile alone, greater than 500,000 seabirds and over 20,000 sea lions have succumbed to HPAI H5N1 this 12 months, in line with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Analysis (SCAR). The continued outbreak of H5N1, which began in 2021, has claimed the lives of numerous birds. Earlier this 12 months, 1000’s of sea lions in South America had been discovered useless attributable to H5N1.
The primary reported outbreak of this pressure in people occurred in Hong Kong in 1997, and it has since unfold worldwide. Based on the journal Nature, the present outbreak is brought on by a extremely virulent type of the H5N1 sub-type.
The pressure initially emerged in Europe in 2020 and rapidly unfold to a number of international locations. In 2022, the virus was first detected in South America, quickly spreading from Colombia to Chile inside a mere three months.
