are testing positive for bird flu without showing outward signs of disease, according to researchers who travelled around 13 remote breeding sites on an ice-breaking cruise ship., there have been concerns about the virus reaching the Antarctic’s fragile penguin populations. In November last year, researchers warned in a pre-printthat if the virus caused mass mortality in these colonies, “it could signal one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times”.
None showed any sign of disease, which is good news for the penguins – but researchers warn they could act as “Trojan horses” facilitating the spread of the virus to vulnerable species. Ed Hutchinson, a molecular biologist from the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, who was also not involved in the paper, said the limited sampling meant this survey only provided a snapshot of what was happening.
“As the spread of coronavirus in humans reminded us, the presence of healthy but infectious individuals can be a real problem in controlling the spread of an outbreak … this study highlights the importance of continued monitoring of this.”