The first case of H5 bird flu has been confirmed in New South Wales.
An infected giant petrel was found near Hawks Nest, on the state’s Mid North Coast, yesterday.
Tonight, testing at the CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness confirmed the bird had the high pathogenic avian influenza.
This is the sixth confirmed case of the H5N1 strain recorded in migratory seabirds in Australia.
One more suspected case in a giant petrel found in Western Australia is still under investigation.
A giant petrel was found sick with bird flu on a beach near Esperance in Western Australia. (Supplied: Lori-Ann Shibish/Esperance Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary)
Acting Australian chief veterinary officer Sam Hamilton said there was no evidence of mass mortality events, or any detections in the country’s agricultural system.
The risk to public health remains low.
NSW has been preparing for positive case
NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the state government had been preparing for a positive result for some time, with a clear plan in place to support industry and the community.
“At this stage the result is limited to a single migratory seabird and has not impacted our poultry sector or domestic wildlife,” Ms Moriarty said in a statement.
“There is no impact on the supply of chicken meat or eggs and I would encourage everyone to purchase these products as they normally would.”
Ms Moriarty says the state has been preparing for the potential of an outbreak. (ABC News: Alexander Lewis)
NSW chief veterinary officer Jo Coombe also stated that the poultry industry have great restrictions in place for biosecurity protection on their properties.
“At this stage, the decisions are made based on risk and the risk has not increased for poultry farms but we’ll continue to work with them,” Dr Coombe said.
She added being able to confirm the case was an example of the government’s surveillance activities and increased awareness and advice to the public.
“It demonstrates that our biosecurity system based on the principle of shared responsibility is operating effectively,” Dr Coombe said.
“I thank the broader community, NSW government staff, the veterinary community, wildlife sector and our poultry industries who are all working together to detect cases early and avoid any onward spread.”
An ‘anomaly’
Dr Coombe said what they had seen so far from the petrel birds migratory pattern, which had been mapped, was “a little bit of an anomaly”.
“They’ve come up from the subantarctic,” she said.
“We always knew that was a risk but this is the first time that has occurred.
She said the Bureau of Meteorology had advised that weather events may have caused them to go “a little off course”, ending up closer to the Australian coast.
Surveillance along the coast has been increased, with 500 additional staff trained to assist.
“And so we have a great number of people we can now deploy to take samples if needed,” Dr Coombe said.
Domestic cases expected to rise
Australia is the last continent to be impacted by the H5N1 strain.
Epidemiologist and Professor of Global Security at UNSW Raina MacIntyre said that the country had historically been protected by an imaginary line called “the Wallace Line” between Australia and Indonesia, which stopped some invasive threats from getting through.
However, now that the epicentre for the strain had moved from Asia to Europe and the Americas, spreading in an unprecedented manner, Australia was no longer immune.
“Because there’s more species of birds infected and we have had infection in Antarctica, it’s then gone to the subantarctic islands…and then come from that subantarctic region into Australia,” Professor MacIntyre said.
The advice for free-range egg producers will be reviewed in two weeks. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)
Michael Ward, who researches bird diseases and migration at the University of Sydney, said the cases were unlikely to be related to domestic transmission at this point.
“At least two of the incursions we’ve seen so far are not exactly the same [strain],” Professor Ward said.
“It seems like there’s these migratory wild birds coming up from sub-Antarctic islands and it seems almost random, they’re sort of landing individual birds.
“So it doesn’t seem like we’re getting spread between these sites.”
He said Australia was yet to see large infection events.
“It would seem that maybe over the winter, we’ll just continue with these sporadic cases, that’s the best case scenario.
“The concern is if we start to see it in our endemic bird life, so our local birds, if it spills over into those then that’s much more of a concern.”
He said it was likely that would happen eventually.
“Based on history and what we’ve seen in the rest of the world, that would be a likely outcome because this is a very contagious virus and if it’s in wild birds, you would expect that spillover to occur in the local birds.”
If members of the public find a sick or dead bird, they have been urged to avoid touching it, to record its location and to immediately report it to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.
Sick birds often look lethargic, may have watery eyes and may have difficulties breathing.
“Sometimes with these birds, they also show signs of paralysis or difficulty walking as well,” Dr Coombe said.
