Lock up the chooks! According to Australia’s national broadcaster, Western Australia (WA) is the site for the first importation to the Australian mainland – via a bird – of an avian influenza virus of an H5 type (presumably influenza A virus H5N1 – A/H5N1 – but that’s yet to be confirmed).
According to the ABC article, the bird was migratory, and initial testing has identified “avian influenza”.
You may also have seen me, coincidentally, post about the story of a recent huge seal die-off on Australia’s Heard Island, likely caused by H5N1. Having this virus among our birds and coastal species, and the risk it poses to our poultry industry, is bad news and a massive problem we have been lucky to have avoided to date.
It is only one bird, but where there’s one, there will be others. In humans to date, H5N1 can range from producing mild to severe and deadly outcomes. Variants seem to differ in their severity. It’s worth noting the forms of H5N1 have been identified for a long time, and it has not – so far – become an easily transmissible human-adapted virus. Which is to say, this bird is not the start of an outbreak among humans right now. It could be an issue for our wildlife though and much more testing will be needed to scan the landscape in WA. But it’s an indication that we’re part of the globe – and birds know little about biosecurity, passports or how much some Australians hate immigrants.
Over decades we have often heard about outbreaks of variants of this virus all over the world. But Australia has not recorded or identified any cases to date.
There aren’t any human cases, and they are not common anyway. But close exposure to infected, often sick animals is a risk factor.
Rather than conduct an extensive literature review here, I am going to refer you to a colleague. Mike Coston and his excellent, highly active blog Avian Flu Diary. Mike has followed tha A/H5N1 avian influenza intensely for many years and has many A/H5N1 blog pieces, filled recently with articles about A/H5N1 in the United States’ cattle . He’s a great source of detail about bird influenza outbreaks.
Let’s see how this develops.
Sites and people to watch on social media
- Michelle Wille via Bluesky and at https://www.michellewille.com/
- The Australian CDC
https://www.cdc.gov.au/diseases/bird-flu-avian-influenza - The Australian Government Bird Flu site
https://www.agriculture.gov.au/campaigns/birdflu - Current responses to outbreaks (juuust in case)
https://www.outbreak.gov.au/current-outbreaks?kind=list
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With the US kindly running the Great Experiment of an infected dairy herd and a bunch of weirdos who decided raw milk is a political position to take, I can’t say I’m too worried about the humans in Australia from this poor birdo. Could really suck, though, if it gets into the farm sector.
Definitely!