Confirmed detections of H5 bird flu in Australian wild seabirds rose to 17 by Tuesday, the Agriculture Department reported, with cases spread across Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales.
The department's situation update, current to 9am on 21 July, lists 10 detections in Western Australia, five in South Australia and two in New South Wales. New cases confirmed by the CSIRO's disease-preparedness laboratory include petrels found at Parry Beach near Denmark in Western Australia, at Seabird north of Perth, and at Hawks Nest on the New South Wales coast. Almost all of the birds are migratory seabirds.
There have been no detections in poultry or the wider agriculture industry, and no evidence of large-scale bird deaths. The Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases, which coordinates the national response, has extended heightened biosecurity guidance for poultry for up to a further two weeks, including voluntary options for states to allow free-range birds to be housed.
It is the high-pathogenicity H5 strain that has moved through wild bird populations across other continents in recent years. The detections in Australian seabirds are recent, and the department's concern is that the virus could carry from wild birds into commercial poultry flocks.
Poultry producers have been urged to keep strict biosecurity in place while the heightened guidance runs, with the department updating its detection figures as testing continues.
