A new version of bird flu known as H11N2 has been found in a group of Adelie penguins in Antarctica, an international team of researchers said Tuesday.
The virus was unlike any other circulating bird flu in the world, the team reported in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
While previous studies have detected influenza antibodies in penguin blood samples, this is the first time scientists have detected actual live influenza virus in penguins or other birds in Antarctica, study author Aeron Hurt, senior research scientist at the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, Australia, said in a statement.
The newly identified virus, however, did not cause illness in the penguins, and may be exclusive to birds, Hurt said. In a test to see if the virus could infect mammals, it failed to get a group of ferrets sick.