Pablo Martínez-Juarez
WriterEnvironmental economist and science journalist. For a few years, I worked as a researcher on the economics of climate change adaptation. Now I write about that and much more.
Nearly a year ago, toward the end of the austral summer, an Antarctic expedition team from Madrid’s National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) detected the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus in Antarctic wildlife. First, it was found in marine mammals. Shortly after, it reached the region’s penguin populations.
An expanding virus. The expedition, a collaboration between CSIC and the Spanish Association of Insurers (UNESPA), has confirmed the spread of the virus on the world’s most remote continent. All animal species analyzed in the Weddell Sea environment tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The team’s analysis yielded 42 positive tests. Twenty-eight came from carcasses of species such as crabeater seals, skuas, gulls, Antarctic pigeons, Adélie penguins, and Gentoo penguins. The remaining 14 positives were from live skuas and Adélie and Gentoo penguins.
Antonio Alcamí, who led the expedition, said that the viral load detected in the carcasses was “very high, indicating a risk of exposure to the virus in the vicinity of the carcasses.”
Testing new technologies. The team used a variety of methods, including innovative approaches that could help detect outbreaks in different settings, such as air sampling.
This method, used in penguin colonies, involves installing a pump connected to a nanofiber filter. Once the sample is collected, a laboratory conducts a PCR test to determine whether the virus is present.
According to Alcamí, the results validated air sampling as a reliable detection method. It could allow scientists to identify the virus without handling animals.
One year later. The team’s analyses suggest the infection can spread in penguin colonies without causing high mortality, making its presence harder to detect. This raises a question: Are penguins more resistant to the virus than previously thought, or is their resistance due to immunity among individuals exposed last year?
The virus’s arrival in Antarctica was inevitable. HPAI was confirmed in South America in 2022, so its first detections in mammals and birds on the frozen continent were not entirely surprising. The new data provide a clearer picture of the scale of a problem affecting wild birds, poultry farms, and now even sectors of the livestock industry, such as dairy production.
From the sailing ship Australis. In January, the CSIC-UNESPA scientific expedition set sail aboard the sailing ship Australis for the southernmost continent. Led by CSIC and funded by a group of insurance companies within the UNESPA trade association, the mission aims to study HPAI’s presence in parts of Antarctica, including the South Shetland Islands and the Weddell Sea.
Image | Torsten Dederichs (Unsplash)
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