ABSTRACT: Serum antibodies to influenza A viruses and paramyxoviruses were detected in Adelie penguin (Pysoscelis adeliae) and Antarctic skua (Stercoranlus skua maccormicki) sera in the Ross
Sea Dependency. An avian paramyxovirus was isolated from a penguin cloacal swab.
Influenza A viruses and paramyxoviruses
are widely distributed among birds in
temperate regions (Alexander, 1980; Webster
et al., 1992) and have been reported
in Adelie penguins (Pysoscelis adeliae) in
the eastern Antarctic (Morgan and Westbury,
1981, 1988). Wild birds are believed
to play a role in the spread of the pathogenic
paramyxovirus, Newcastle disease
virus (Hanson, 1972), and there is compelling evidence that aquatic wild birds are the primordial reservoir of all influenza
viruses for avian and mammalian Species,
including humans (Webster et al., 1992).
Two recent seal epizootics caused by avian
influenza-like viruses (Hinshaw et al., 1984)
raised the question of whether seals worldwide
are natural hosts of influenza viruses or whether they recently were infected
from birds.
