{"id":822519,"date":"2026-07-25T07:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822519\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T07:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:34:12","slug":"queensland-becomes-australias-fourth-state-to-confirm-h5-bird-flu-case-as-petrel-washes-up-on-moreton-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822519\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland becomes Australia’s fourth state to confirm H5 bird flu case as petrel washes up on Moreton Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland has become Australia’s fourth state to confirm a case of bird flu.<\/p>\n

Authorities confirmed the case on Saturday after a migratory petrel was found washed up on Moreton Island, about 40km by ferry from Brisbane.<\/p>\n

There has now been 18 confirmed infections across four states, including the dead petrel found by Queensland park rangers.<\/p>\n

The latest case was confirmed after samples from the bird were sent to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation\u2019s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness for testing.<\/p>\n

Western Australia has reported 10 cases, South Australia five, New South Wales two, and Queensland one.<\/p>\n

Australia was the final continent to confirm a mainland case of H5N1 when the disease was detected on a migratory seabird in June in Western Australia.<\/p>\n

The disease had been detected in late 2025 on the sub-Antarctic territory of Heard Island about 4,100km from continental Australia.<\/p>\n

“There remain no detections in poultry, nor evidence of large-scale deaths in any animals in Queensland,” the authorities said in a statement, adding that the risk to human health remained low.<\/p>\n

\"Today's<\/p>\n

Queensland\u2019s chief veterinary officer Alison Crook said enhanced surveillance programs would encourage community vigilance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have known that a H5 bird flu detection in Queensland was a matter of when, not if,\u201d Dr Crook said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Queensland Government is well prepared to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are continuing our enhanced passive surveillance program throughout the state and would encourage the community and industry to continue to be vigilant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you find sick or dead wild birds or wildlife, avoid contact, keep children and pets away, record what you see, and report immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The virulent strain of bird flu has spread through wild bird and mammal populations since 2021, killing millions, infecting poultry and dairy farms and even some farmworkers.<\/p>\n

Queenslanders have been instructed not to touch dead birds, but to report them to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland has become Australia’s fourth state to confirm a case of bird flu. Authorities confirmed the case on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[396817,396837,396836,396821,396825,256328,28327,391582,385886,396834,396818,396824,396856,376769,396823,206895,396826,396827,64,63,396819,41780,1845,651,396814,129851,396809,83158,396810,396832,396822,8112,396820,2490,396833,396808,396841,1116,67264,396855,396815,396849,528,396812,359412,396830,81439,17973,39481,66415,396813,396850,19433,396857,396838,29705,121255,673,44,3354,396847,396816,374501,20246,51235,396848,701,15878,396831,396840,396852,396854,120830,205518,46907,46953,396806,396842,27460,376833,396853,376840,396846,396835,396829,396807,396839,396843,396845,396851,380113,165057,396811,396828,24080,3439,396844],"class_list":["post-822519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-australian-centre","tag-s-chief-veterinary-officer-alison-crook","tag-10-cases","tag-100km","tag-18-confirmed-infections","tag-256328","tag-28327","tag-a-matter","tag-a-case","tag-a-h5-bird-flu-detection","tag-a-mainland-case","tag-a-migratory-petrel","tag-a-migratory-seabird","tag-a-statement","tag-about-40km","tag-aerial-view","tag-alison-crook","tag-any-animals","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-centre-for-disease-preparedness-for","tag-authorities","tag-bird-flu","tag-brisbane","tag-children-and-pets","tag-commonwealth-scientific-and-industrial-research-organisation","tag-community-vigilance","tag-contact","tag-continental-australia","tag-crook","tag-dead-birds","tag-disease","tag-disease-preparedness","tag-donald-trump","tag-dr-crook","tag-enhanced-surveillance-programs","tag-even-some-farmworkers","tag-evidence","tag-ferry","tag-first-h5-bird-flu-case","tag-four-states","tag-fourth-state","tag-getty-images","tag-getty-images-western-australia","tag-h5-bird-flu","tag-h5-bird-flu-case","tag-h5n1","tag-h5n1-bird-flu","tag-heard-island","tag-human-health","tag-industrial-research-organisation","tag-its-first-case","tag-june","tag-large-scale-deaths","tag-late-2025","tag-millions","tag-moreton-island","tag-new-south-wales","tag-news","tag-news-headlines","tag-no-detections","tag-our-enhanced-passive-surveillance-program","tag-petrel","tag-picture","tag-poultry","tag-poultry-and-dairy-farms","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-government","tag-queensland-one","tag-queensland-park-rangers","tag-reinhard-dirscherlullstein","tag-reinhard-dirscherlullstein-bild","tag-retaliatory-tariffs","tag-samples","tag-saturday","tag-shore","tag-sick-or-dead-wild-birds-or-wildlife","tag-south-australia-five","tag-testing","tag-the-authorities","tag-the-bird","tag-the-case","tag-the-commonwealth-scientific","tag-the-community-and-industry","tag-the-dead-petrel","tag-the-disease","tag-the-final-continent","tag-the-fourth-state","tag-the-latest-case","tag-the-queensland-government","tag-the-risk","tag-the-state","tag-the-sub-antarctic-territory","tag-the-virulent-strain","tag-today","tag-western-australia","tag-wild-bird-and-mammal-populations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822519","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=822519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}