The highly pathogenic avian flu virus, which has caused the death of hundreds of millions of birds in the last five years worldwide, extends through Antarctica, a virgin paradise for wildlife. An expedition led by the Spanish virologist has confirmed the presence of the virus “in all animal species detected on each site” in six islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to a report sent to the Spanish Polar Committee and international authorities. The good news is that penguins seem to be more resistant to what was feared, but the pathogen raises in other species. On Joinville Island, scientists have observed that the virus has attacked “with special virulence” to crab.
Alcamí himself and his colleague Ángela Vázquez were the first researchers who in Antarctica, just a year ago. The Virologist, from the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center (CSIC), feared “a disaster” after Antarctic winter, during which months passed in total darkness without scientists to know what is happening. Alcamí sailed in a new expedition a month ago, crossing the dangerous sea of hoces or passage of Drake from southern America, in the Australian sailboat Australiswith a mobile laboratory on board.
The team has already detected the virus in 28 corpses of half a dozen different species: Antarctic pigeons, cook seagulls, crab, papúa penguins, Adelia penguins and pales, migratory sea birds. The Alcamí report, to which the country has had access, warns that “the viral load in dead animals is very high, indicating a risk of exposure to the virus in the proximity of the corpses.”
The group has also observed the pathogen in 14 living specimens. “We do not see signs of disease in penguins, but we have found the virus in dead animals of many species, and also in living penguins that we are sampling. Although we do not see symptoms in some colonies of penguins, the virus is circulating, ”Alcamí explains to this newspaper, with two journalists displaced to the Spanish Antarctic Base Gabriel de Castilla, operated by the Army. Researchers have detected the pathogen even in air samples taken in penguins, warns the report, sent to the Scientific Committee for Research in Antarctica, an international organism.
Alcamí’s team warns that the presence of virus in apparently healthy penguin colonies “has implications for human security”, since many of these places usually receive both scientists and tourists. The highly pathogenic avian flu jump to people is one of the worst nightmares for virologists, but for now the virus is not easily transmitted between human beings. The World Health Organization has registered 23 cases of infected people and eight deaths for five years, when the virus emerged in corral birds and spread successfully in nature.
Last summer, scientists from the University of Cornell confirmed that the virus, which had been invading the dairy farms of the United States, was, and cattle to cats for months. The researchers launched an alert. “The efficient and sustained transmission from mammal to mammal is not precedents. It is worrisome because it can make the virus adapt, improving its infectivity and transmissibility to other species, including people, ”they warned of an urgently published study.
Alcamí achieved financing on the edge For expedition thanks to the intermediation of the president of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Eloísa del Pino, which achieved a donation of almost 300,000 euros of the Spanish Union of Insurance and Reinsurers (UNESPA). After taking samples at the Weddell Sea, the so-called CSIC-Unespa Antarctic Expedition will continue a couple of weeks looking for animals south of the Antarctic Peninsula.
