Surveillance efforts on the New South Wales Central Coast have ramped up to ensure the most dangerous strain of bird flu does not enter Australia disguised as botulism, which has similar symptoms.
Avian botulism is a paralytic disease that can kill wild birds like swans, pelicans, and ducks when they ingest a naturally occurring bacteria-produced toxin.
More than a dozen pelicans, some of which have died, have been found with the suspected condition around Tuggerah Lakes in recent weeks.
WIRES wildlife veterinarian Tania Bishop said botulism usually occurred seasonally.
“It’s a natural phenomenon whenever we’ve had dry weather or quite stagnant or slow-moving pools of water that have a lot of organic decaying debris at the bottom,” Dr Bishop said.
“That’s where the bacteria that creates the toxin grows.
“If there’s a sudden flush of water, which we’ve had with sudden rainfall, that can cause an inversion where all of that material at the bottom is flushed to the top and the birds ingest it when they feed.”
Cathy Gilmore says there has been an increase in pelican fatalities around the Central Coast. (ABC Central Coast: Shauna Foley)
Cathy Gilmore from Marine Wildlife Central Coast said the disease paralysed birds.
“It starts off with the legs so sometimes you see the bird walking funny, backwards even,” she said.
“It then progresses to the wings … then they can’t hold their head up and the last to go is the eyelid.”
Similar symptoms prompt concern
Australia is the only continent in the world that has not seen the arrival of the highly contagious strain of H5N1 bird flu.
The symptoms in wildlife include sudden death, incoordination, head tremors, twisted necks, or the head held upside down.
According to the federal government, the likelihood of humans becoming infected is low, as current strains of H5N1 circulating overseas do not appear to transmit easily to or between humans.
But there are concerns an outbreak would significantly impact Australia’s wildlife and agriculture industry, particularly poultry.
The first sign of H5N1 is paralysis in the bird’s legs. (ABC Central Coast: Shauna Foley)
Dr Bishop said carers had undergone extensive training to make sure they could confirm birds with suspected botulism did not have bird flu.
“[It involves] teaching carers what to do when there are groups of birds sick on the beach and how to go about testing,” she said.
“We want to be sure that if [bird flu] does enter Australia that we know as soon as possible so we can limit the damage to our wildlife.”
Ms Gilmore said extra efforts to screen all suspected cases of botulism on the Central Coast were underway, as part of stepped-up surveillance of bird flu.
All suspected cases are reported to a hotline, set up by the NSW Department of Primary Industries, and some local vets have been specially trained to collect swabs from the suspected “botulism birds” to confirm they do not have H5N1.
Ms Gilmore urged people to call their local wildlife group if they saw a sick bird.
“We really advise people not to touch the birds at all if they can help it,” she said.
