SYDNEY: Scientists have detected the H5 strain of bird flu in Australia for the first time, the country’s agriculture minister said on Saturday, meaning the highly contagious variant has now spread to every continent.
Australia’s federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins, told a news conference that the disease had been detected in a migratory seabird, a brown skua, in a remote area of Western Australia, and the result had been confirmed by the national science agency.
Samples from another sick bird, a giant petrel found in the same area, also showed a suspected positive result, she said.
Australia was previously the only continent where the H5 strain, which can devastate poultry and wild bird populations, had not been detected.
“While disappointing, this is not unexpected given the global spread of H5 avian influenza,” Collins told reporters in Canberra.
“I can confirm that there is still no evidence of mass die-offs at this time, nor any evidence of infection in any poultry,” she said.
An emergency meeting of animal health and agriculture officials was held to consider a national response.
“We all knew we couldn’t be bird flu free forever,” Collins added.
The H5 strain has caused severe illness and high mortality rates in affected poultry, wild birds and mammals worldwide.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that the detection of the case was concerning and that his government would take measures to contain the spread of the disease.
“This is something that has happened because of migratory birds, and has happened by definition all over the world, and that’s why we’re preparing for it,” he said.
Wild birds most affected by the H5 strain include waterfowl, shorebirds, seabirds and birds of prey.
Marine mammals have also been affected, with some detections in other animals such as cats, goats, alpacas and pigs.
“Impacts at the population level”
There are fears the deadly disease could add to the extinction risks facing Australia’s wildlife, many of which are unique to this vast continent.
Nearly half of Australia’s wild bird species and 83% of its mammals are found nowhere else.
Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner Fiona Fraser said on Saturday there was a plan to protect 35 species by promoting captive breeding.
Among them, the Tasmanian devil, the black swan, the little penguin and the Australian sea lion are particularly threatened by avian flu, she explained.
“There clearly could be population-level impacts on our species,” Fraser said.
The confirmed case was detected in a wilderness area 630 kilometers (391 miles) southeast of the west coast city of Perth.
Authorities said they were investigating whether the disease arrived in Australia via birds migrating from sub-Antarctica.
On Thursday, Australian scientists said the H5 strain of avian flu had killed more than 13,000 baby elephant seals after infecting a breeding colony on the remote Heard and McDonald Islands, one of Australia’s outer territories in the sub-Antarctic region.
