Scientists have detected the H5 strain of bird flu in Australia for the first time, the country’s Agriculture Mnister said on Saturday, meaning the highly contagious variant has now spread to every continent.
Julie Collins told a press conference the disease had been found in a migratory sea bird, a brown skua, in remote Western Australia, and the result was confirmed by the national science agency.
Samples from another sick bird, a giant petrel, had also shown as 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.
“Whilst disappointing, this is not unexpected, given the global spread of the H5 bird flu,” Collins told reporters in Canberra.
