5 ms·
The title suggests to me (maybe is a lost in translation case) that lots of penguins are being killed by bird flu. The article says that evidence of this is inc
by pvaldes 3y ago
The title suggests to me (maybe is a lost in translation case) that lots of penguins are being killed by bird flu. The article says that evidence of this is incomplete or just a suspicion.
In a frozen sample, we can't do histopathology. All the tissues are damaged. Also all pathogens based in cells are destroyed. There are a million of things that could have killed this penguins. For example, we know that the ocean is warming, and warm temperatures in the ocean trigger algae bloom, that can introduce toxins in the seafood chain that typically causes this results.
If penguins would need ice for fishing, and ice melted, same result.
Finding a virus in a sample where you can see the damage to the cells caused by the virus is one thing. Finding a virus where the only remains are frozen viruses in a tissue soup (unless you test for DNA) is a different thing.
- maxbond 3y agoThis is a much more interesting criticism, thank you for sharing it. This is out of my wheelhouse but I would be very surprised if virions were destroyed in a recently deceased and frozen body. There's not a whole lot of water in a virion, so it shouldn't be torn apart by ice. Virions decay fairly quickly since they don't have machinery to maintain themselves, but the reactions which break them down should be arrested by the cold. I've started algae cultures from frozen samples before, I can't imagine that even tough, small, spherical cyanobacteria are as resistant to frost as viruses. The headline to me is an indication that this is a hypothesis under investigation. For better or worse, a lot of science news is about ongoing research that may not pan out. I think that asks more of the reader, in terms of holding ideas lightly and checking in as the story develops, but I don't think it's a flaw per day.