{"id":89602,"date":"2024-01-11T05:52:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T05:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.estaql.com\/highly-infectious-form-of-bird-flu-confirmed-for-first-time-in-antarctic-seals-science-tech-news\/"},"modified":"2024-01-11T05:52:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T05:52:58","slug":"highly-infectious-form-of-bird-flu-confirmed-for-first-time-in-antarctic-seals-science-tech-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/highly-infectious-form-of-bird-flu-confirmed-for-first-time-in-antarctic-seals-science-tech-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Highly infectious form of bird flu confirmed for first time in Antarctic seals | Science & Tech News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Highly infectious form of bird flu confirmed for first time in Antarctic seals | Science & Tech News<\/h2>\n

Highly infectious form of bird flu confirmed for first time in Antarctic seals | Science & Tech News<\/p>\n

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A highly infectious form of bird flu has been confirmed for the first time in Antarctic seals, threatening one of the most fragile ecosystems on the planet.<\/p>\n

Scientists working for the UK’s Animal Plant Health Agency (APHA) detected the variant of the H5N1 virus in samples taken from dead elephant and fur seals on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.<\/p>\n

Dozens of animals are known to have died, with many more likely to have succumbed in remote bays and out at sea.<\/p>\n

Experts at British Antarctic Survey told Sky News that the unfolding tragedy was a “mass mortality event”.<\/p>\n

Dr Marco Falchieri, from the APHA, spent three weeks collecting samples from wildlife on South Georgia, a UK Overseas Territory in the Southern Ocean.<\/p>\n

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He said seals and seabirds share the same beaches, giving the virus a chance to transmit.<\/p>\n

“It is significant because this level of mortality is not normally seen in this population,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The fact that we found the virus suggests that it is responsible for the casualties that have been seen.”<\/p>\n

Virus has swept the globe<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2.3.4.4b form of the virus has swept the globe, spread by migrating birds. It has caused mass die-offs in several seabird colonies in the UK.<\/p>\n

Any movement of the virus between birds and mammals is a concern to scientists who closely monitor ‘spillover events’ for any sign that it is mutating.<\/p>\n

It’s thought to have killed thousands of sealions around South America, as well as large numbers of mink and foxes being farmed for fur in Europe. It has been detected in a small number of mammals in the UK, including seals and wild foxes.<\/p>\n

But there’s no good evidence that the virus is spreading between mammals and the APHA scientists found no indication that the virus had adapted to surviving in seals.<\/p>\n

These animals share the same environment with birds,” said Dr Falchieri.<\/p>\n

Read more:
Third set of vaccines for foie gras ducks to try to halt bird flu outbreak
Hope in fight against lethal bird flu
Nearly 10,000 seabirds dead and sick across Scotland<\/strong><\/p>\n

“That’s the way we think these animals have been infected by the virus.”<\/p>\n

Conservationists had hoped the vast Southern Ocean would stop the virus reaching Antarctica<\/strong> and South Georgia, but it was detected in October in corpses of brown skua, a large seabird.<\/p>\n

‘Big relief’ for Antarctic penguins, for now<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new research by the APHA has also found the virus in kelp gulls and Antarctic terns, but so far it hasn’t been seen in penguins.<\/p>\n

Professor Ashley Banyard, an avian influenza specialist at the APHA, told Sky News: “It’s a big relief to a lot of us that the penguins haven’t been affected.<\/p>\n

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\n Curious penguins check out Dr Falchieri. Pic: APHA
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“We don’t know whether that’s because there’s a lack of susceptibility, or that they’ve had prior exposure and some antibody response to a less pathogenic virus that may well have travelled asymptomatically in migrating birds.”<\/p>\n

But penguins have been affected in other parts of the world and wildlife experts fear the consequences of the virus reaching the Antarctic continent itself.<\/p>\n

Norman Ratcliffe, a seabird ecologist at British Antarctic Survey said: “These are mass mortality events at a well above the baseline levels.<\/p>\n

“If the virus does establish on the continent it could potentially spread right around.<\/p>\n

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\n Pic: APHA
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“That would affect the global population of Emperor penguins and a very large proportion of the world’s Adelie penguins as well.<\/p>\n

“Leopard, crabeater and Weddell seals could also be infected.<\/p>\n

“These are all species that really aren’t found anywhere else, so this would have global repercussions on Antarctic wildlife.”<\/p>\n

Many Antarctic species are already struggling as the climate changes and sea ice retreats.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Highly infectious form of bird flu confirmed for first time in Antarctic seals | Science & Tech News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Highly infectious form of bird flu confirmed for first time in Antarctic seals | Science & Tech News Highly infectious form of bird flu confirmed for first time in Antarctic seals | Science & Tech News A highly infectious form of bird flu has been confirmed for the first time in Antarctic seals, threatening one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7711],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7711"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}