Scientists concerned about avian flu’s spread to Oceania after Antarctica

WELLINGTON, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Scientists have expressed concerns the spread of the globally devastating strain of highly pathogenic bird flu onto the Antarctic mainland earlier this year raised the risk of an incursion into Oceania, the last continent remaining free of this strain of avian flu.
New Zealand Massey University’s professor Nigel French said on Wednesday that careful monitoring of the situation on the Antarctic mainland and particularly the Ross Sea region is important to enabling New Zealand to assess the dynamic threat to the country’s wild bird and mammal populations, as well as the risk to farmed livestock and people.
A new research published in Nature Communications detailed the extent of how the highly pathogenic avian flu virus H5N1 rapidly spread into wildlife on Antarctica. Genetic assessment found the virus spread from South America, likely through migratory birds, and infected a range of birds such as black-browed albatross, skuas, kelp gulls and even two seal species.
New Zealand is one of the last places on Earth that has never reported a case of the virus, which is decimating wild birds around the world.
Brett Gartrell of Massey University said there is cause for some hope in that penguin species have not been severely affected to date, and that while marine mammals in the subantarctic have been severely affected there is no evidence yet of transmission between mammals.
With the movement of the virus into Antarctica, the risk of it making its way to New Zealand is increasing, Gartrell said, adding the impact on New Zealand’s seabird populations could spill over into the island retreats of many other endangered species of birds. ■