Antarctica might not be the most sought-after tourist destination in the world, however the number of tourists going there has increased over the last few decades and scientists are quite concerned about how this might be affecting penguins and other seabirds.
In particular, they’re worried about how human footprints have the chance to bring new diseases there. On the other hand, zoonotic diseases can be spread from animals to us, but we can also give them to animals in what’s known as reverse zoonosis.
As this isn’t a new situation, scientists have been quite cynical that it was happening in Antarctica because of its remoteness and previous research hasn’t been definitive.
At present, however, they’ve found the first evidence that is. Scientists from the Research Center for Animal Health in Barcelona, Spain, collected samples of feces from over 600 birds from 24 different species, including penguins, albatrosses, petrels and skuas to test for pathogens at locations including Livingston Island, Marion Island, Gough Island and the Falkland Islands.
As per their findings, which were later published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, the fecal samples had bacteria that came from humans is present unquestionably. Also, strains of Salmonella and Campylobacter, which are known to cause infections in people, have been found, along with genotypes that were resistant to antibiotics commonly used in human and veterinary medicine.
