Authors
Augustin Clessin, Marius Brusselmans, Samuel L Hong, Jérémy Tornos, Mathilde Lejeune, Yucai Shao, François-Xavier Briand, Celia Abolnik, Benjamin Kaza, Marc A Suchard, Begoña Aguado, Antonio Alcamí, Christophe Barbraud, Martin Beer, Ashley Bennison, Francesco Bonadonna, Timothée Bonnet, Charles-André Bost, Sara Boucheron, Tristan Bralet, Paulo Catry, Jaimie Cleeland, Maelle Connan, Holly A Coombes, Karine Delord, Camille de Pasquale, Meagan L Dewar, Xiaomin Dong, Julia Emerit, Romain Fischer, Nicholas Fountain-Jones, Filippo Galimberti, Jacob González-Solís, Christophe Guinet, Carrie Gunn, Anne Günther, Matteo Iervolino, Joe James, Xiang Ji, Ian Jonsen, Christopher W Jones, Amanda Kuepfer, Thijs Kuiken, Céline Lebohec, Simeon Lisovski, Lucia Llorente Zubiri, Joshua G Lynton-Jenkins, Paula Martinez-García, Michelle McCulley, Clive R McMahon, Benjamin C Mollett, Ana I Moraga-Quintanilla, Rhiannon Nichol, Aude Noiret, Maria Ogrzewalska, Kate Owen, Catalina Pardo-Roa, Samuel Peroteau, Richard A Phillips, Elie Poulin, Andrew Rambaut, Scott M Reid, Eva Riehle, Michelle Risi, Odin Rumianowski, Peter G Ryan, Simona Sanvito, Andrew Stanworth, Antje Steinfurth, Jonathon Stevenson, Antoine Stier, Marcela M Uhart, Ralph E T Vanstreels, Angela Vázquez-Calvo, Juliana A Vianna, Katie Wells, Jeff White, Paul Whitelaw, Michelle Wille, Jane Younger, Laura C Roberts, Béatrice Grasland, Ashley C Banyard, Martha I Nelson, Amandine Gamble, Thierry Boulinier, Guy Baele
Published in
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. Mar 31, 2026. Epub Mar 31, 2026.
Abstract
High pathogenicity avian influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1 reached the sub-Antarctic and Antarctica in 2023, subsequently spreading to remote locations within this region where it had devastating impacts on seal, penguin and albatross populations. The threat to marine wildlife over this broad area exemplifies the need to understand H5N1 long-distance dispersal and evolution. We obtained 104 novel viral genomic sequences from samples that we collected at South Georgia, Kerguelen, Crozet, Prince Edward, Falklands/Malvinas Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula in a region spanning 8,000 kilometers. Using recent phylogeographic modeling advances we show that H5N1 spread encompassed numerous transmission events between distant locations, accumulating mammalian-adaptive mutations in the process. Seals are the most affected species, but we reveal that the long-distance eastward virus dispersal better aligns with the long-distance movements of large petrels and albatrosses. The risk of H5N1 endemisation, dispersal to other locations and ongoing evolution are highly concerning.
PMID:
41889939
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Sep 2026.
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