Fiocruz sets off on new expedition to Antarctica with protocol against H5N1

Four years after arriving for the first time in Antarctica, Fioantar began, last Wednesday (11/21), the last expeditions planned in the first 2019-2024 public notice from the CNPq/Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI). Researchers Adriana Marcos Vivoni, Maithê Magalhães and Lucas Machado Moreira boarded a Brazilian Air Force plane, along with journalist Matheus Cruz and engineers Armando Carlos Lopes and Carlos Roberto Tavares de Miranda, from the General Coordination of Campus Infrastructure (Cogic/Fiocruz) and who will be maintaining Fiolab – the laboratory of enhanced biosafety, equipped and maintained by Fiocruz at the Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station (EACF).

Four years after arriving in Antarctica for the first time, Fioantar began the last expeditions foreseen in the 2019-2024 notice (photo: Disclosure)

This expedition will be divided into three phases. This first group left early Wednesday morning from the Galeão Air Base in Rio de Janeiro, bound for Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul, where the Navy will provide the appropriate clothing for the low temperatures in Antarctica. On Thursday morning, they will leave for Punta Arenas, a city in the south of Chile, where they will board the Ary Rongel Oceanographic Support Vessel. From there, they head to the EACF, crossing the Drake Strait, famous for its adverse maritime weather conditions. This group is expected to stay at the station on the Keller Peninsula in Almirantado Bay, King George Island. Adriana, Matheus, Armando, and Carlos are expected to return on the week of December 22nd. Lucas and Maithê won't be back until the end of January.

At the beginning of January, another group formed by Marcia Chame and Roberto do Val Vilela departed, returning at the end of the same month. Before January is over, Martha and Harrison leave for Antarctica, returning in February. These last two groups will remain on board, visiting various Antarctic sites to collect samples. Through the material collected from water, soil, thaw, lichens, carcasses and feces, it is possible to carry out pathogen surveillance, which has already led to three scientific studies.

Protocol of Conduct

With the participation of Fiocruz, the Navy and the Ministry of Health have drawn up a protocol on how to deal with H5N1, a bird flu virus that has already been detected off the coast of Brazil, Argentina and Chile. It can cause the death of birds and marine animals or even reach humans. The aim is to reduce the risk of contamination as much as possible. "We had a lot of discussions about behavior protocols, such as the decontamination of clothes and boots, to prevent contamination between areas, people and the station itself", says Wim Degrave, Fioantar's coordinator.

The first expedition took place in 2019, but was interrupted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was resumed in 2021, albeit surrounded by precautions, such as quarantine on the ship before setting sail to avoid cases of COVID-19. The interruption in the program was overcome by the good amount of samples collected in the following expeditions. "They are relevant to analyze the ecosystems of fungi, bacteria and viruses in the region. We have already managed to publish several scientific articles on the lake waters and the isolation of fungi. Research with bacteria is also advancing", said Wim. "We are putting together a puzzle of the ecosystem around the EACF, which will provide us with an idea of what to expect, how it is made up, whether they were already there or whether they were introduced by humans and whether they can survive there", he added.

Even with the pandemic, the work in the laboratories in Rio de Janeiro has not stopped and has produced articles, including the unprecedented detection of the fungus that causes histoplasmosis and the influenza A virus in penguins in South Shetland.

The group of laboratories and scientific collections at Fiocruz, participants in the Fioantar project, has applied for a new four-year project with the MCTI to extend and deepen such important research.

First trip

While the researchers are veterans of Antarctica, Matheus, Armando Carlos and Carlos Roberto are traveling to the continent for the first time. "The equipment was tested at Cogic before Fiolab was set up, and now it needs to be assessed periodically. We are excited", said Armando Carlos. It is necessary, for example, to assess the biosafety cabin, which ensures both the safety of the researchers and the samples, to carry out performance tests and preventive maintenance on equipment, e.g. such as the ultra freezer, which allows samples to be kept at a temperature of -80ºC.

"It is a unique moment for me, because of the possibility of going on such an incredible trip, as well as the possibility of carrying out the scientific dissemination of a project as amazing as Fioantaras, Fiocruz's actions in Antarctica, to communicate to people everything that Fioantar is capable of doing", said journalist Matheus.