Australia expands bird flu surveillance as H5N1 detections raise concerns

Australian authorities ramp up surveillance in Victoria and South Australia following detections of the H5N1 bird flu strain in migratory seabirds, amid low but growing concerns for public health.

Australia’s H5 bird flu alerts have widened as authorities in Victoria and South Australia move to heightened surveillance after detections in Western Australia and South Australia, with officials stressing that the immediate public-health risk remains low.

According to the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, the state is on alert after the first Australian detection of the H5 strain in a migratory seabird in Western Australia. The department has stepped up preparedness planning and urged the public to report unusual bird deaths or illness.

South Australia has now confirmed its first H5N1 high pathogenicity avian influenza case, found in a giant petrel at Knights Beach on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The state environment department said people should avoid sick or dead birds and contact the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline instead.

The Australian Centre for Disease Control said in June that the risk to human health is low and that the virus is not a food safety threat when poultry is handled and cooked properly. It later reported a detection in a non-migratory greater crested tern on 10 July, again assessing the risk to the public as low.

Agriculture Victoria says there are still no confirmed detections in poultry in Victoria or elsewhere in Australia, but it is urging vigilance as the virus continues to circulate globally.