Experts discuss potential spread of bird flu in Antarctica

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A highly contagious strain of avian influenza has already killed millions of birds and mammals around the world. Ahead of its potential spread across Antarctica and the Southern Ocean experts have gathered in Hobart to test their response plans.

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00:00McQuarrie Island is a mecca for seals, penguins and other seabirds.

00:08But there are fears the sub-Antarctic sanctuary could be hit with avian influenza within months.

00:14It's really hard to know how grim it's going to be when it arrives.

00:17It could be mass mortality that has a very significant impact on populations or it may

00:23not be the case.

00:24The H5N1 strain was first detected on the Antarctic Peninsula near South America earlier

00:30this year.

00:31Ahead of a potential outbreak in Australia's Antarctic Territory, government agencies are

00:37testing their response plans.

00:39By practising and working through those issues, it really helps set us and the station up

00:45to respond.

00:47Researchers, health officials and logistics personnel have been war-gaming a possible

00:52scenario where following sightings of dead petrels and penguins on a remote tip of McQuarrie

00:58Island, expeditioners discover a bird carcass near the research station.

01:03And so we're working through how do we deal with that carcass, what are the sampling regimes

01:08we might need to think about.

01:10It's not just the impact on wildlife that's raising concerns.

01:14This training exercise is also looking at the potential health and psychological consequences

01:19for expeditioners and researchers.

01:22It's hard to see the animals that you've been monitoring for years sick, dying or the

01:30population numbers declining.

01:31The risk of humans becoming infected with avian influenza we know is quite low.

01:37What we do know though is that it can cause quite severe illness in a number of cases.

01:43Making preparations for an outbreak all the more urgent.

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