On Oct. 23, 2023, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) reported that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) had been confirmed in brown skua populations on Bird Island, South Georgia – the first known cases in the Antarctic region.

Natural pathways are the primary means of spread of HPAI and it was likely that the spread of the disease was caused by the return of birds from their migration to South America, where there were a high number of HPAI cases.