If a penguin happens to sneeze on you, you aren’t going to get the flu. And, happily for the crowded colonies of nesting penguins, the avian influenza virus in their midst doesn’t seem to make penguins sick, either. But the discovery does raise intriguing questions about how flu viruses spread.
Do Adelie penguins get sick?
But this strain doesn’t make humans or the birds sick. Adelie penguins frolic in Antarctica, unaware of a flu virus that circulates among them.
Do penguins carry diseases?
“Penguins are highly susceptible to infectious diseases. ” She bases that on a survey by her team of penguin diseases in captivity, reaching as far back as 1947. It found reports of Salmonella, E. Coli, West Nile virus and Avian pox virus infections, among others.
Yes, Adelie penguins, which breed in huge colonies on the rocky Antarctic Peninsula, also harbor a version of the avian influenza virus, according to a study published in the journal, m, and bio.
For those who go, it’s the trip of a lifetime – and it wouldn’t be complete without a selfie with penguins. But growing tourism to the Antarctic, in combination with its warming climate, could be placing penguins at a risk of infectious diseases .
Why are penguins so dangerous?
Infectious diseases and parasites may compromise the survival of individual penguins and at worst can cause mass mortality events (Kincaid et al. 1988;Grimaldi et al. 2015a). Penguins are susceptible to a range of infectious and parasitic diseases but clinical signs are rarely obvious and often go unreported (Clarke & Kerry 1993).
Some rehabilitated African Penguins were shown to be amongst the oldest known individuals of this species in the wild. Cleaning oiled African Penguins is considered to make a worthwhile contribution to the conservation of a vulnerable, endemic species. Diseases acquired by captive penguins: What happens when they are released into the wild?
What kind of parasites are in a Penguins blood?
Parasites known to occur in the blood of penguins include haemosporidian protozoans (Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon, Haemoproteus), piroplamid protozoans (Babesia), kinetoplastid protozoans (Trypanosoma), spirochete bacteria (Borrelia) and nematode microfilariae.