{"id":746416,"date":"2026-06-19T09:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746416\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T09:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:46:17","slug":"bird-flu-in-australia-deadly-bird-flu-strain-suspected-to-have-reached-australian-mainland-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746416\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird flu in Australia: Deadly bird flu strain suspected to have reached Australian mainland for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deadly and highly contagious H5N1 strain of bird flu is suspected to have reached mainland Australia for the first time. <\/p>\n

Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins announced on Friday afternoon that a wild migratory seabird suspected to have avian influenza was detected in an isolated area in south-west Western Australia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The H5 strain of bird flu reached Heard Island, an extremely remote Australian territory, late last year, and is now suspected to have been detected on the mainland.\u00a0AP<\/p>\n

WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has since confirmed the brown skewer seabird was discovered on Cape Le Grand Beach near Esperance on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The bird had fallen ill and has since died.<\/p>\n

An initial test came back positive for avian influenza and further testing is underway to confirm whether it is the H5N1 strain that has wiped out millions of birds, poultry and mammals around the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0cannot\u00a0confirm\u00a0yet\u00a0whether\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0the\u00a0strain\u00a0of\u00a0concern\u00a0that\u00a0is\u00a0circulating\u00a0at\u00a0this stage,\u00a0known\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0H5 bird flu,\u201d Collins told reporters in Hobart. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no evidence of any mass mortality at this time, nor is there any evidence of infection in poultry.\u201d <\/p>\n

A second bird showing symptoms in the same area is being tested for the bird flu.<\/p>\n

The strain first caused mass deaths in birds in the northern hemisphere in 2021 and spread across continents before it was confirmed in Antarctica in mid-2025. <\/p>\n

Australia was the last continent free from H5N1 but concerns grew that it would soon arrive after the strain was detected in the Heard and McDonald Islands, about 4000km south-west of Perth, in October.<\/p>\n

Collins could not say whether the suspected case had arrived from Heard Island but said $113 million had been poured into preparing for the strain\u2019s eventual arrival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is confirmed to be the H5 bird flu, this will be sobering, but not unexpected, given the spread globally,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always said that we couldn\u2019t keep it out forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

An outbreak of bird flu on Heard Island devastated the local seal population.\u00a0DAFF, DCCEEW<\/p>\n

Jarvis said Australia is well-prepared to respond quickly to the strain to protect poultry production and manage impacts on communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is indeed confirmed, poultry farmers are well aware of what they need to do,\u201d Jarvis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf members of the community see sick or diseased mammals, please avoid contact, record what you see and report it to the emergency animal diseases hotline on 1800 675 888.\u201d<\/p>\n

The H5 strain is highly contagious and can lead to widespread illness and death in birds and mammals, but has also impacted poultry in rare cases. <\/p>\n

In Heard Island, it has wiped out 13,000 out of 17,000 seal pups since it was first detected in August.<\/p>\n

H5 bird flu rarely affects humans. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly in exceptional rare cases has it impacted humans, but our government is doing the one health approach,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n

Tests results are expected to be handed down on Saturday. <\/p>\n

The WA government is leading the response as the Federal Department of Agriculture is coordinating a national response. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to reassure the public that we\u2019re well-placed to respond to and to manage this situation,\u201d Collins said. <\/p>\n

Australians are urged not to touch sick or dead birds or animals. <\/p>\n

Instead, they are advised to take a photo from a safe distance, record the location and report the incident to birdflu.gov.au.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deadly and highly contagious H5N1 strain of bird flu is suspected to have reached mainland Australia for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-746416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}