SYDNEY: Australia is checking for any sign of “entrenched” H5 bird flu in its wildlife after detecting the country’s first two cases, the government said Monday.
Scientists confirmed at the weekend they had found the disease in a migratory sea bird, a brown skua, in remote Western Australia.
Tests from another sick bird in the same area, a giant petrel, have now verified that it also had the H5 strain, officials said.
Over the next three to seven days, experts will investigate whether the virus strain has spread further by boosting surveillance and testing, said Agriculture Minister Julie Collins.
“We want to see whether or not there has been an entrenched infection in the wildlife in Australia,” she told a news conference.
