South Australia has recorded seven new suspected cases of H5 bird flu, including five detections at the same site over two days.
Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the greater crested terns have been sent to CSIRO laboratory in Geelong to determine if there has been local transmission.
“We will provide an update as soon as I get those CSIRO lab tests back, they may take some time for the sequencing to be done,” Ms Collins said.
“At this time there are no mass mortalities, there is no evidence of any H5 bird flu in our poultry or agricultural systems and the risk to human health remains low.”
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins says an update will be provided as soon as the lab tests are ready. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
Australia has recorded 20 confirmed cases of the strain so far across South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
Ms Collins said all cases have been detected in migratory and seabirds.
“The states and territories have been doing an enormous amount of triaging and testing right across the country and we have obviously had these detections all along the coast at this point in time.”
Birds found on Limestone Coast
SA Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Clare Scriven said all seven suspected cases were found in greater crested terns on the Limestone Coast in the state’s South East.
“Five of those have been at Southend, not far from Beachport, one at Port MacDonnell and one at Cape Jaffa,” Ms Scriven said.
She said that of the five birds found at Southend, four were sick and one was deceased.
Clare Scriven says the seven suspected cases were found in the state’s South East. (ABC News: Trent Murphy)
“The fact that we have found these additional birds is testament to the fact that we have a general public who are very alert, who are being very vigilant and reporting what they see to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline,” Ms Scriven said.
She said if all seven cases were confirmed to be the H5 strain, it would bring the total number of cases in the state to 14.
SA’s chief veterinary officer Skye Fruean said all of the seven suspected cases were found through reports to the hotline.
“We are stepping up both aerial surveillance and foot patrols in the areas where we would expect to see seabirds which we would consider high-risk species, including crested terns,” she said.
Ms Fruean said it was too early to say whether local transmission had occurred and anticipated lab results would take one or two days to be returned.
“It’s not a welcome development but until we have that confirmatory testing and further genetic analysis, we will know more once we have that,” she said.
“The overseas experience has shown that we do expect it to spread, we don’t know how quickly and where.
“We don’t know what this is going to mean for Australia but we are preparing for the worst.”
All seven suspected cases were found in greater crested terns. (Supplied: Andrew Sleep)
First case confirmed on metro beach
On Sunday, the CSIRO confirmed two native birds which were found dead on separate beaches in SA tested positive for the H5 stain.
One greater crested tern was found near Robe and the second was found near the Semaphore Surf Life Saving Club, the first time a case has been detected on a metropolitan beach in SA.
Ms Scriven said a community forum about bird flu would be held at Glenelg tonight to answer questions from locals and provide public health and safety advice.
