H5N1 virus detected in dead skuas near the Antarctic station Primavera. Until now, Antarctica was one of the few places where bird flu was not yet circulating.
Virus poses a potential threat to the huge penguin colonies on the Antarctic continent. Bird species that have never been in contact with bird flu are considered particularly at risk. Tens of thousands of seabirds and mammals have already died from the virus - in the Northern Hemisphere, southern Africa, the Atlantic, the Pacific and South America.