Genomic detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in Antarctic seabirds reveals connectivity with South American viral lineages
Francine C. B. Timm, Raíssa Gasparetto, Miguel L. Côrrea, Alanis S. Melgarejo, Bruna S. Paredes-Galarza, Nicole V. Stone, Eduardo J. Pizarro, Gaspar Mejías, Carolina P. Lucca, Isabella Grazini-Capelin, Fernanda M. Pereira, Luis G. Santos, Thales Bermann, Bruno A. Prandi, Lina M. Violet-Lozano, Marth · 2026
Read Genomic detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in Antarctic seabirds reveals connectivity with South American viral lineages by Francine C. B. Timm, Raíssa Gasparetto, Miguel L. Côrrea, Alanis S. Melgarejo, Bruna S. Paredes-Galarza, Nicole V. Stone, Eduardo J. Pizarro, Gaspar Mejías, Carolina P. Lucca, Isabella Grazini-Capelin, Fernanda M. Pereira, Luis G. Santos, Thales Bermann, Bruno A. Prandi, Lina M. Violet-Lozano, Marth (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13575050.txt.
Description
Francine Timm and co-authors report a 2026 study of bird flu in Antarctic seabirds. New bird viruses pose a rising threat to the wildlife of the far south. The team screened birds in the South Shetland Islands during the 2024 to 2025 summer season.
Of 278 samples, 30 held flu virus RNA and eight held the H5 type. Full genome reads from a gentoo penguin and a giant petrel showed the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of a known global clade. Gene trees placed those genomes close to current South American strains. The link ties Antarctic birds into the wider spread network and marks the region as exposed to fresh disease waves.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Francine C. B. Timm, Raíssa Gasparetto, Miguel L. Côrrea, Alanis S. Melgarejo, Bruna S. Paredes-Galarza, Nicole V. Stone, Eduardo J. Pizarro, Gaspar Mejías, Carolina P. Lucca, Isabella Grazini-Capelin, Fernanda M. Pereira, Luis G. Santos, Thales Bermann, Bruno A. Prandi, Lina M. Violet-Lozano, Marth |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 31 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |