Concern after the detection of first cases of avian flu in Antarctica. Responsible for the death of millions of birds since 2021, the H5N1 virus was first detected on the White Continent.
“We are witnessing the beginnings of a serious impact on avian populations in Antarctica,” says Thierry Boulinier, research director at the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology in Montpellier. The fears are nevertheless well-founded; a team of researchers anticipated in an article published last November that if the virus began to circulate in Antarctic penguin populations.