Australia’s 15th H5 bird flu case confirmed in petrel found in Hawksnest, NSW

Authorities have detected another bird flu case in NSW, bringing the total confirmed cases to 15.

“Testing at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness has confirmed a further positive detection of H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (bird flu) in a petrel, found at Hawks Nest, New South Wales,” the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) said on Thursday.

“There have now been 15 confirmed or presumed positive detections of H5 bird flu in Australia.

“All of these have been individual wild seabirds found in coastal locations. All but one have been wild migratory seabirds.”

It added that there was “no evidence of any mass mortality events and there are no detections in poultry or in our agricultural production system”

“The risk to human health remains low,” the department said.

Most of the infected birds have been found in Western Australia with eight cases confirmed.

Five cases were confirmed in South Australia.

Thursday’s discovery brings NSW’s cases to two.

Petrels are large, wide-ranging seabirds that spend most of their lives traversing open oceans.

Most of the cases reported are petrels that have come into contact with infected penguin and seal colonies in sub-Antarctic islands.

Unlike birds that only dive for live fish, petrels usually scavenge the carcasses of other dead or dying marine wildlife, bringing them into direct contact with highly concentrated viral loads.

Bird flu decimates wildlife and has killed millions of birds and marine mammals across the globe.

Spreading to poultry farms could devastate the industry and cause a spike in food costs.